Name: Veal Olives
Ingredients: 1½ pounds veal; 3 crackers; 2 teaspoons butter; ½ teaspoon savory; ¼ teaspoon sage; 1 teaspoon salt; a pinch of pepper; ⅛ cup water

Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Veal Olives

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare a dressing by crushing the crackers and mixing with butter, savory, sage, salt, pepper, and water.
Spread the dressing over the veal strips.
Roll the veal strips and secure them as you would for beef olives.

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.

Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,388 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Veal + sagetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together670 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Butter + sagetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,312 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,049 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).