Name: Artificial Asses’ Milk
Ingredients: 1 quart of water; 1 quart of new milk; 1 oz. of white sugar-candy; ½ oz. of eringo-root; ¼ oz. of conserve of roses

Why it works: Milk and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Artificial Asses’ Milk

Ingredients

Directions

Boil together water, new milk, sugar-candy, eringo-root, and conserve of roses until half the liquid is evaporated.
Let it cool before serving.

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.

Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,584 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Milk + rosetop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,249 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

New milk: Forms the creamy base of the drink and provides its body and richness.
White sugar-candy: Adds sweetness to the drink.
Conserve of roses: Adds floral aroma and flavour.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.