Name: Goose Roasted
Ingredients: 1 young and tender goose; apples (equal in number to onions); onions (equal in number to apples); a little sage; pepper; coarse sea salt; butter; slices of salt pork; 1 cup boiling 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 ↓

Goose Roasted

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the stuffing

Clean the goose according to directions.
Boil equal amounts of apples and onions with a little sage.
Pass the mixture through a coarse sieve.
Season the mixture with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Mix with mashed potatoes to achieve the right consistency.

Stuff and roast

Stuff the goose.
Truss the goose.
Rub the goose with butter.
Dust the goose with coarse sea salt.
Place the goose in a dripping pan on slices of salt pork or in a lump of butter.
Add 1 cup of boiling water to the pan.
Baste frequently while baking.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) after the first 15 minutes.
Bake for 1½ to 3 hours, depending on the size of the bird.

Serve

Make a giblet gravy.
Serve with apple sauce.

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).
Apple + sagetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together755 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Onion + porktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,214 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Sage + porktop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,527 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

What each ingredient does

Goose: Provides the rich, fatty meat that is the main body of the dish.
Apples: Add natural sweetness and acidity that balance the rich fat of the goose.
Onions: Add savory depth and moisture to the stuffing as they soften when boiled.
Butter: Adds fat that helps the skin brown and keeps the meat moist.
Mashed potatoes (in the method): Give the stuffing body and the right consistency so it holds together.

The step that matters

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) after the first 15 minutes. Starting with a short high-heat period and then lowering the temperature helps the skin brown while the large bird cooks through gently. Basting during baking keeps the surface moist and prevents drying.