Name: Tongue in Aspic Jelly
Ingredients: 1 onion; 1 pint water; 1 bay leaf; a little coarse sea salt; ½ teaspoon beef extract; a little cayenne pepper; 1 tablespoon gelatine; ¼ cup cold water

Why it works: Onion and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Tongue in Aspic Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Dissolve gelatine in ¼ cup cold water.
Cut onion and add it to the pint of water with the bay leaf; bring to a boil.
Add salt and cayenne pepper.
Strain the mixture over the dissolved gelatine and stir in the beef extract.
Dip a mold in cold water, pour in a little of the jelly, and let it cool.
Once cold, place the tongue in the mold and prick the jelly with a fork to help the next layer adhere.
Pour enough jelly over the tongue to cover it and let it cool completely.

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.

Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

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