Name: Mont Blanc
Ingredients: 1/3 box of gelatin; grated rind of 2 lemons; 2 cups of sugar; 1 pint of boiling water; 5 egg whites; 1 pint of boiling milk; vanilla extract to taste

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Mont Blanc

Ingredients

Directions

Dissolve the gelatin in 1 pint of boiling water.
Add the grated lemon rind and sugar, stirring until combined.
Before the mixture sets, fold in the beaten egg whites until well incorporated.
For the custard, whisk the egg yolks with 1 pint of boiling milk and sweeten to taste.
Flavor the custard with vanilla extract.

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.

Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,187 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,778 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Lemon + vanillatop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,961 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (gelatin, sugar, egg, milk, vanilla):

Figfits better
Peachfits better
Strawberryfits better
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against gelatin, sugar, egg, milk, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.