Name: Spixach Timbale
Ingredients: Egg yolks; Rounds of toast; Pounded chicken livers; Egg whites; Chopped parsley

Why it works: Liver and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Spixach Timbale

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Set the egg yolks in their shells in a cool place until ready to use.
Spread pounded chicken livers on the rounds of toast.
Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth and heap them on the toast.
Make a hollow in the center and carefully drop in the yolks.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for three minutes or until lightly browned.
Sprinkle chopped parsley over each and serve.

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.

Liver + parsleytop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,095 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Chicken + livertop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together383 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Chicken + parsleytop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,314 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,765 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Egg + livertop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,177 recipes

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