Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Ox-liver Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the liver and grate it.
Mix the grated liver, grated bread, and minced suet in equal quantities.
Season the mixture with black pepper, Jamaica pepper, grated nutmeg, coarse sea salt, and rum.
Half fill the skins with the mixture.
Cook the puddings as you would other puddings.
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.
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Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Nutmeg + rumtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together646 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Bread + nutmegtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,997 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Liver + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together731 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, bread, pepper, rum):
- Nutmegthe original
- Sagefits about as well
- Thymefits about as well
- Clovefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against liver, bread, pepper, rum. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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