Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
To Roast Goose
Ingredients
Directions
Pick the goose and pull out the plugs of feathers.
Singed the hairs carefully.
Wash and dry the goose.
Season the inside with onion, sage, and pepper.
Stuff the crop with sausage-meat.
Fasten the neck and rump tightly.
Roast the goose, starting at a distance from the fire and gradually moving closer.
Baste well while roasting.
Serve with gravy and bread-sauce.
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.
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Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,388 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + sagetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,628 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Sage + breadtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,778 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Onion + breadtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,676 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sage, pepper, bread, sauce):
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sage, pepper, bread, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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