Name: Goose Liver with Chestnuts
Ingredients: goose fat or butter; chestnuts; white sugar

Why it works: Chestnut and sugar work together. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 647 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Goose Liver with Chestnuts

Ingredients

goose fat or butter
chestnuts
white sugar

Directions

Scald the chestnuts until they are perfectly white.
Heat goose fat or butter in a porcelain-lined kettle.
Add the chestnuts and a little white sugar.
Glaze the chestnuts until they are light 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.

Chestnut + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together647 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter + chestnuttop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together965 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).