Why it works: Pepper and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓
Beefsteak and Oyster Plx
Ingredients
Directions
Gently beat the steak with a rolling pin and season with salt and pepper.
Line a deep dish with pastry.
Layer the steak and oysters in the dish.
Pour in the oyster liquor, add a little mace and catsup.
Cover with a top crust and bake until golden.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,257 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Pepper + oystertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,663 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Oyster + macetop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,910 recipes
Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, oyster):
- Parsleyfits better
- Celeryfits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, oyster. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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