Name: To Mould in Aspic Jelly
Ingredients: aspic jelly; hard-boiled eggs; vegetables (cut in fancy shapes); macaroni (cut in fancy shapes); nuts (cut in fancy shapes); olives (cut in fancy shapes); pickles (cut in fancy shapes); truffles (cut in fancy shapes)

Why it works: Olive and truffle work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 435 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

To Mould in Aspic Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Pack a mould in a pan of broken ice to keep it firm and straight.
Pour a little aspic jelly into the mould and let it set until firm.
Garnish with hard-boiled eggs, vegetables, macaroni, nuts, olives, pickles, and truffles, all cut in fancy shapes, fastening each piece with a few drops of jelly.
Once set, add more jelly to cover the garnishes.
Carefully place whatever you wish to mould in the center and pour in a little more jelly to hold it.
When that layer is hard, fill up the mould with the remaining jelly.
To decorate the sides, dip the ornaments in jelly and place them on the sides after the mould is very cold.

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.

Olive + truffletop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together435 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Nuts + olivetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together186 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Egg + truffletop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,604 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).
Nuts + truffletop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together39 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Egg + nutstop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,624 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).