Name: Ox Tongue Toast
Ingredients: 2 ounces cold boiled tongue, minced; 1 hard-boiled egg, chopped; a pinch of cayenne pepper; a pinch of powdered mace; 2 ounces fresh butter; 1 slice of buttered toast

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 ↓

Ox Tongue Toast

Ingredients

2 ounces cold boiled tongue, minced
1 hard-boiled egg, chopped
a pinch of cayenne pepper
a pinch of powdered mace
2 ounces fresh butter
1 slice of buttered toast

Directions

Make the topping

In a pan, dissolve the butter over low heat.
Add the minced tongue, chopped egg, cayenne, and mace.
Stir until the mixture is hot, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Serve

Spread the mixture thickly on the buttered toast and serve immediately.

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.

Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,257 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Mace + buttertop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together11,405 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together50,580 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold boiled tongue: Provides the main savoury meat base that gives the topping its body and flavour.
Hard-boiled egg: Adds richness and a soft, creamy texture to the mixture.
Fresh butter: Melts to carry the spices and add richness and moisture to the topping.