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Ladies' Lunches

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Rice and chicken are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,769 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓

Ladies' Lunches

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Poach the eggs until desired doneness.

  2. Boil the ham until heated through.

  3. Prepare delicate rice cakes according to package instructions.

  4. Slice the cold ham and arrange on a platter.

  5. Slice the tomatoes and set aside.

  6. Grill the lamb chops until cooked to your liking.

  7. Serve all dishes together for a simple lunch.

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.

  1. Rice + chickentop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  2. Chicken + lambtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together626 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,065 recipes

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

  4. Chicken + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Rice + lambtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together439 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, ham, rice, chicken, lamb):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Tomatothe original
  4. Capsicumfits about as well

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

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