Name: Nouilles, with Ham
Ingredients: 1½ pints boiling gravy; 1 ounce fresh butter; 3 ounces boiled ham, diced; 2 ounces grated Parmesan cheese (or mild cheese); pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste

Why it works: Butter and parmesan cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Nouilles, with Ham

Ingredients

1½ pints boiling gravy
1 ounce fresh butter
3 ounces boiled ham, diced
2 ounces grated Parmesan cheese (or mild cheese)
pepper to taste
coarse sea salt to taste

Directions

Prepare nouilles as previously described.
Simmer nouilles for six minutes, then drain and dry them.
In a saucepan, combine nouilles, boiling gravy, butter, diced ham, and grated cheese.
Mix gently with a wooden spoon, being careful not to break the nouilles.
Add pepper and salt if needed.
Serve in a hot vegetable dish with hot buttered toast and a little mustard.

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.

Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,163 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,322 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Butter + hamtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,475 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Ham + parmesan cheesetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together144 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).