Name: To Mould the Timbales
Ingredients: butter (for greasing); truffle (thinly sliced); macaroni; minced meat (prepared for filling); filling of veal, ham, mushrooms, etc.

Why it works: Truffle and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,900 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

To Mould the Timbales

Ingredients

Directions

Grease the moulds with butter to prevent sticking.
Place a thin, round piece of truffle at the bottom of each mould, covering about three-fourths of the bottom.
Shake the macaroni gently to remove any water, then roll it against the sides of the mould, pressing gently to adhere.
If one macaroni does not cover the sides, use more to complete the coverage, ensuring the joints connect well.
Using a knife or fork, press about ½ inch of minced meat against the sides of the macaroni.
Fill the hollow with the prepared filling of veal, ham, mushrooms, etc., leaving about ⅛ to ¼ inch from the top.
Top with the remaining minced meat to finish.

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.

Truffle + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,900 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Truffle + vealtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together815 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Butter + truffletop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,209 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Truffle + hamtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together516 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).