Name: White Devil
Ingredients: ½ cup cream, whipped stiff; 2 teaspoons made mustard; ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper; ¼ teaspoon salt; 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce; 2 teaspoons Harvey sauce

Why it works: Mustard and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,430 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

White Devil

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Warm your game as you would for devilling.
Place the game on the serving dish.

Make and bake

Mix the cream, mustard, cayenne pepper, salt, Worcestershire sauce, and Harvey sauce together.
Pour the mixture over the game.
Bake for about 5 minutes in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

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.

Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,787 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Mustard + saucetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,120 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together21,449 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream + mustardtop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,935 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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

Cream: Whipped cream forms a light, rich topping that carries the seasonings and bakes into a soft layer.
Made mustard: Adds sharp, pungent flavour that cuts through the richness of the cream.
Worcestershire sauce: Adds savoury, tangy depth to the sauce.
Cayenne pepper: Adds heat that sharpens the overall flavour.