Name: To Fricassee Sweet-breads
Ingredients: sweetbreads; coarse sea salt; black pepper; flour; water; Lisbon or Madeira wine

Why it works: Pepper and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

To Fricassee Sweet-breads

Ingredients

Directions

Parboil the sweetbreads in salted water until cooked, then cool and skim them carefully to avoid breaking.
Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper, dust with flour, and fry until golden brown.
Place the fried sweetbreads on a dish.
Make a gravy by adding water to the frying fat and a little brown flour, stirring until thickened.
Remove from heat, stir in the wine, pour over the sweetbreads, and serve hot.

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 + flourtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together50,459 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + madeira winetop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together423 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Pepper + madeira winetop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together582 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).