Name: Morels, Stuffed
Ingredients: Morels; Salt; Butter; Shallots; Bread crumbs; Paprika; Cooked chicken farce

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Morels, Stuffed

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Wash and trim the stems of the morels.
Parboil the morels in salted water for 10 minutes.
Immerse in cold water, drain, and press them dry.
Chop the stems and trimmings, then sauté in butter with chopped shallots.
Add bread crumbs to absorb the butter and season with salt and paprika.
Remove from heat and let cool.
Mix the sautéed mixture with cooked chicken farce and stuff the morels.
Arrange the stuffed morels in a buttered sauté pan, sprinkle with fresh bread crumbs and bits of butter.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) until they are a rich brown.

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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Shallot + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,245 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Bread + chickentop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,258 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).
Butter + chickentop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,902 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Butter + shallottop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,426 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).