Name: Lemon Trifle
Ingredients: 2 lemons; 1 lemon, grated; 1 pint heavy cream, sweetened and whipped stiff; 1 cup sherry; a little nutmeg

Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Lemon Trifle

Ingredients

Directions

Juice 2 lemons and grate the peel of 1 lemon.
Combine the sugar, lemon juice, and grated peel; let sit for 2 hours.
Add the sherry and nutmeg to the mixture.
Strain through a fine cloth.
Gradually fold the strained mixture into the whipped cream.
Serve immediately in small glasses.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,920 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Sherry + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,246 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Lemon + sherrytop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,273 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Cream + sherrytop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,038 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).