Name: Bacon and Fowl Broth
Ingredients: 3 lbs bacon; 2 whole fowls; nearly 2 lbs rice; 3 pints broth from bacon and fowls; 3 onions; 1 oz cloves; 1 oz peppercorns; 1 teaspoon allspice

Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Bacon and Fowl Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

In a large pot, combine the bacon and fowls with enough water to cover.
Simmer for 1 to 2 hours to create a rich broth.
Remove the meat and strain the broth.

Finish the dish

Add the rice, onions, cloves, peppercorns, and allspice to the broth.
Cook until the rice is tender.

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.

Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,874 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Rice + oniontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,433 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Rice + clovetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,982 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together16,901 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Onion + allspicetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,270 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).