Name: Shrimps in Aspic
Ingredients: plain dariols; nicely-picked shrimps; lobster coral; chervil leaves; liquid aspic; endive

Why it works: Chervil and endive share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 75 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Shrimps in Aspic

Ingredients

Directions

Line the plain dariols with a thin layer of liquid aspic.
Arrange a little lobster coral at the bottom of the mould.
Place a few chervil leaves and set the shrimps and coral in a neat pattern around the mould.
Secure them in place with a little liquid aspic.
Once set, fill in with the remaining shrimps and more aspic.
Chill until completely cold.
Chop the endive and place it on a serving dish.
Unmould the shrimps onto the endive and garnish with thinly sliced eggs, cucumbers, and a little red chili.

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.

Chervil + endivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together75 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Shrimp + lobstertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together403 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Lobster + cherviltop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together52 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Lobster + endivetop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together42 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Shrimp + cherviltop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together80 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).