Name: Goose, a LA Flamande
Ingredients: 1 goose; glazed carrots; glazed turnips; Brussels sprouts; variety of seasonal vegetables; bright brown sauce; braising liquid

Why it works: Carrot and turnip are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 8,001 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Directions

Truss and braise the goose until cooked.
Dish it up and garnish with groups of glazed carrots, turnips, Brussels sprouts, and other seasonal vegetables.
Glaze the goose and pour bright brown sauce around the vegetables.
Serve immediately.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Carrot + turniptop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together8,001 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Turnip + saucetop 11% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together943 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Carrot + saucetop 14% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together2,508 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Carrot + brussels sproutstop 18% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together10 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Turnip + brussels sproutstop 32% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together1 recipe

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the brussels sprouts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, turnip, sauce):

Parsnipbetter flavor fit
Leekbetter flavor fit
Beetrootbetter flavor fit
Brussels sproutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, turnip, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).