Name: Bengal Curry
Ingredients: 1 drachm (1 teaspoon) of red pepper; 6 onions; 1 oz. (⅛ cup) of coriander seeds, husked; 1 lb. (4 sticks) of butter; 2 drachms (2 teaspoons) of turmeric; 4 pints (8 cups) of curds; 2 oz. (¼ cup) of grated cocoa-nut; a little coarse sea salt

Why it works: Coriander and turmeric match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,253 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Bengal Curry

Ingredients

1 drachm (1 teaspoon) of red pepper
6 onions
1 oz. (⅛ cup) of coriander seeds, husked
1 lb. (4 sticks) of butter
2 drachms (2 teaspoons) of turmeric
4 pints (8 cups) of curds
2 oz. (¼ cup) of grated cocoa-nut
a little coarse sea salt

Directions

Rub the coriander seeds smooth in a mortar.
Pound the red pepper and onions together with the coriander.
Melt the butter in a stewpan and slice one onion into it.
Remove the onion when browned and add the turmeric to the butter.
Fry the turmeric until the raw flavor disappears.
Mix the curds with the pounded ingredients and add to the pan with meat cut into pieces.
Add the grated cocoa-nut and a little salt.
Stir the stew continually and sprinkle water to prevent burning while the meat browns.

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.

Coriander + turmerictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,253 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Pepper + turmerictop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,478 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pepper + coriandertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,949 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Onion + turmerictop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,913 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

Swap the cocoa

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, onion, coriander, butter, turmeric):

Chickpeafits better
Lentilsfits better
Beansfits better
Cocoathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, onion, coriander, butter, turmeric. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.