Name: Roast Goose
Ingredients: 4 good sized onions, parboiled and chopped; 4 tablespoons of bread crumbs; 2 teaspoons of sage; Pepper to taste; Coarse sea salt to taste

Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Roast Goose

Ingredients

4 good sized onions, parboiled and chopped
4 tablespoons of bread crumbs
2 teaspoons of sage
Pepper to taste
Coarse sea salt to taste

Directions

Prepare the goose

After plucking and drawing the goose, singe off all down and kosher it.
Cut off the neck close to the body, leaving enough neck skin to turn over.
Wipe the inside of the bird with a clean cloth, then cut off the feet and pinions at the first joint.

Stuff and truss

Stuff the goose with the mixed ingredients.
Draw the legs up and use a trussing needle and twine to tie them and the body together.
Fasten the pinions and neck skin in the same way.
Cut off the end of the vent and make a hole in the skin for the rump to go through.

Roast

Cook a moderate sized goose for about 1.5 hours or a large one for 2 hours.

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.

Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,388 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + sagetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,628 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Bread + sagetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,778 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Onion + breadtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,676 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Onions: Add moisture and a mild sweetness to the stuffing as they soften in the bird.
Bread crumbs: Absorb the juices and fat released during roasting, giving the stuffing body and texture.
Sage: Adds an earthy, aromatic herbal flavour that complements rich goose meat.