Name: Vanilla Pastilles
Ingredients: ½ cup finely powdered gum galbanum; ½ cup finely powdered tears of olibanum; ½ cup finely powdered tears of storax; ½ cup powdered nitre; ½ cup powdered cloves; ⅔ cup vanilla; ⅔ cup powdered charcoal; ¼ cup spirits of wine

Why it works: Clove and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,049 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Vanilla Pastilles

Ingredients

½ cup finely powdered gum galbanum
½ cup finely powdered tears of olibanum
½ cup finely powdered tears of storax
½ cup powdered nitre
½ cup powdered cloves
⅔ cup vanilla
⅔ cup powdered charcoal
¼ cup spirits of wine

Directions

Blend all ingredients together into a thick paste.
Form the mixture into pastilles of the usual size and shape.

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.

Clove + vanillatop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,049 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Spirit + winetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together701 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Vanilla + spirittop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together53 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Clove + winetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,958 recipes

Shared aroma: cis-isoeugenol (clove, spicy).
Clove + spirittop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together152 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).