Name: Rump-steak and Oyster Sauce
Ingredients: 2 lb. of rump steak; 3 dozen oysters; Salt and pepper to taste; Flour (optional, for thickening); Crust made with suet and flour; Water

Why it works: Pepper and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Rump-steak and Oyster Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Cut the kidney into 8 pieces.
Line a dish with crust made from suet and flour, leaving a small piece to overlap the edge.
Layer the bottom with steak and kidney, seasoning with salt and pepper.
Add another layer of steak, kidney, and seasoning until the dish is full.
Pour in enough water to come within 2 inches of the top.
Moisten the crust edges, cover the pudding, and press the crusts together to seal.
Tie a floured cloth around the pudding and place it in boiling water.
Boil for at least 4 hours, replenishing with hot water as needed.
After boiling, cut a round piece from the top of the crust to prevent bursting.
Serve the pudding in the basin or an ornamental dish.

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.

Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together50,459 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,663 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Oyster + flourtop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,582 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanal (grass, green).