Name: French Nougat
Ingredients: 1 cup syrup; 2 egg whites, beaten stiff; 1 cup nuts; 1 cup candied cherries, finely chopped

Why it works: Syrup and nuts work together. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 168 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

French Nougat

Ingredients

1 cup syrup
2 egg whites, beaten stiff
1 cup nuts
1 cup candied cherries, finely chopped

Directions

Cook sugar, syrup, and water until it forms a soft ball in water.
Pour ½ cup of this mixture into the beaten egg whites and stir rapidly.
Continue cooking the remaining syrup until it forms a hard ball when dropped in water.
Pour the hard syrup over the egg mixture, stirring constantly.
Add the nuts and candied cherries, and beat until spongy.
Pour into a buttered deep pan and cut into slices when cool.

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.

Syrup + nutstop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together168 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Egg + nutstop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,624 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Syrup + eggtop 32% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,995 recipes