Name: Hare Forcemeat
Ingredients: ¼ pound beef suet, minced; 2 ounces raw lean ham, minced; 2 teaspoons chopped parsley; 2 teaspoons mixed savory herbs (or 4 teaspoons dried herbs); 2 inches thin lemon rind, chopped very small; 5 ounces fine bread crumbs; pepper, to taste; coarse sea salt, to taste; 2 egg yolks

Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Hare Forcemeat

Ingredients

¼ pound beef suet, minced
2 ounces raw lean ham, minced
2 teaspoons chopped parsley
2 teaspoons mixed savory herbs (or 4 teaspoons dried herbs)
2 inches thin lemon rind, chopped very small
5 ounces fine bread crumbs
pepper, to taste
coarse sea salt, to taste
2 egg yolks

Directions

In a bowl, combine minced beef suet and ham.
Add chopped parsley, savory herbs, lemon rind, bread crumbs, pepper, and salt.
Mix well and bind the mixture with the yolks of two eggs.

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.

Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,037 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,536 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).