Name: Scotch Canapes
Ingredients: Breast of chicken, diced; Red tongue, diced; Lean ham, diced; Nutmeg, to taste; Curry powder, to taste; Thick Veloute sauce; Slices of toast; Parmesan cheese, for dredging

Why it works: Chicken and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,497 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Scotch Canapes

Ingredients

Directions

Combine diced chicken, red tongue, and ham in a bowl.
Season with nutmeg and curry powder.
Mix into a thick Veloute sauce.
Spread the mixture on slices of toast.
Dredge with Parmesan cheese.
Bake until golden.

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.

Chicken + hamtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,497 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Chicken + parmesan cheesetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,846 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Ham + parmesan cheesetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together144 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
Sauce + parmesan cheesetop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,294 recipes

Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).
Ham + saucetop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,314 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, ham, sauce, parmesan cheese):

Garlicfits better
Capersfits better
Celeryfits better
Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, ham, sauce, parmesan cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.