Name: Broths, Gravies, and Soups
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons lemon juice; 2 tablespoons mushroom ketchup; 1 tablespoon essence of anchovy; ½ pint Madeira or claret; 1 teaspoon curry powder or ¼ teaspoon cayenne; peel of 1 lemon; 1½ dozen mock turtle forcemeat balls; 1 dozen egg balls; brain balls (optional)

Why it works: Ketchup and anchovy match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 479 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Broths, Gravies, and Soups

Ingredients

2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons mushroom ketchup
1 tablespoon essence of anchovy
½ pint Madeira or claret
1 teaspoon curry powder or ¼ teaspoon cayenne
peel of 1 lemon
1½ dozen mock turtle forcemeat balls
1 dozen egg balls
brain balls (optional)

Directions

In a gallon of soup, add lemon juice, mushroom ketchup, essence of anchovy, wine, curry powder or cayenne, and lemon peel.
Simmer for 5 minutes, then remove the lemon peel.
Prepare 1½ dozen mock turtle forcemeat balls and 1 dozen egg balls for each tureen.
For brain balls, boil brains for 10 minutes, cool in cold water, and cut into nutmeg-sized pieces.
Mix dried savory or lemon-thyme, grated nutmeg, pepper, and salt; coat brains in beaten egg, then in the mixture, and again in egg and breadcrumbs.
Fry the brain balls in hot oil until golden.

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.

Ketchup + anchovytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together479 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Anchovy + eggtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,330 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Lemon + mushroomtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon + anchovytop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,080 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Mushroom + ketchuptop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).