Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Hashed Venison
Ingredients
Directions
If you have leftover venison gravy, use it. If not, simmer bones and trimmings in water for 1 hour.
Melt butter in a stew-pan, then add enough flour to absorb the butter and stir well.
Gradually add the strained gravy from the trimmings and some red currant jelly. Bring to a boil, skim, and strain through a sieve.
Add the venison to the gravy and warm gently without boiling to avoid toughening the meat.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Venison + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together957 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Venison + red curranttop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together81 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Butter + red curranttop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together495 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Flour + red curranttop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together394 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
Swap the red currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, butter, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Currantfits about as well
- Red currantthe original
- Lemonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against venison, butter, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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