Name: Veal, Galantine of
Ingredients: 1 small breast of veal (1 to 2 lbs); 1 to 2 lbs sausage meat; 2 to 3 rashers of bacon (or ham/tongue); 1 hard-boiled egg; glaze; coarse sea salt; black pepper; a pinch of nutmeg; a pinch of ground mace; a pinch of ground cloves

Why it works: Nutmeg and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

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.

Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,686 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,557 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,400 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together13,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, meat, ham, egg, pepper, nutmeg, clove):

Allspicefits better
Cinnamonfits better
Winter savoryfits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, meat, ham, egg, pepper, nutmeg, clove. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Veal, Galantine of