Name: Three Cornered Puffs
Ingredients: thin sheet of pastry; 1 tablespoon raspberry jam; 1 egg white; powdered sugar; water

Why it works: Egg and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Three Cornered Puffs

Ingredients

Directions

Roll out a thin sheet of pastry and cut it into desired sizes.
Place 1 tablespoon of raspberry jam in the center of each piece.
Fold up the sides in three places to form a peak at the top.
Turn them over and place them closely side by side on a board.
Whisk the egg white and brush it over the puffs.
Dredge the puffs with powdered sugar.
Before baking, sprinkle them lightly with water.

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.

Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Raspberry + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,101 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Raspberry + eggtop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,778 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).