Why it works: Lemon and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 887 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Roast Goose
Ingredients
Directions
Remove the gills from the goose and cut off the legs and wings from one side.
Cut off the back and lower side bones, leaving the breast and thighs.
Make a circular slice in the apron and pour in a glass of port or claret.
If using stuffing, place a lemon (peeled) in the center before cooking.
Before serving, remove the lemon and discard it.
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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Lemon + sagetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together887 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Sage + oniontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,628 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Lemon + oniontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,646 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the sage
The recipe marks sage as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, onion):
- Thymefits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Garlicfits better
- Sagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, onion. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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