Name: Vols-axj-vent of Sweet-breads
Ingredients: sweetbreads; cream sauce; vols-au-vent shells; coarse sugar; strawberries; additional sugar

Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Vols-axj-vent of Sweet-breads

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sweetbreads as per the frying instructions in the recipe for frying them.
Cut the cooked sweetbreads into small pieces.
Fill the vols-au-vent shells with the sweetbreads and pour a little cream sauce over them.
Cover with the tops of the vols-au-vent.
For a sweet version, glaze the tops with boiled sugar and sprinkle with pounded loaf sugar.
Mash a portion of the strawberries, mix with additional sugar, and cook until it thickens.
Fill the vols-au-vent with fresh strawberries and pour the cooled syrup over them before serving.

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.

Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,787 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sauce + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,147 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).