Name: Roast Capons with Truffles
Ingredients: 2 capons; 1 teaspoon salt; 24 sliced truffles; ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper; 2 tablespoons butter; ¼ pound pork fat

Why it works: Truffle and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,380 recipes. Both carry 3-ethylphenol, which smells must. The science ↓

Roast Capons with Truffles

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.

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Lard the capons and season with salt and pepper.
In a skillet, melt the butter and fry the truffles until golden.
Stuff the capons with the fried truffles.
Let the stuffed capons stand for 24 hours before roasting.

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.

Truffle + porktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,380 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethylphenol (must).
Truffle + buttertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,209 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Butter + porktop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,933 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Pepper + porktop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,121 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

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