Name: Cray-fish in Aspic
Ingredients: Crayfish tails; Aspic jelly; Egg white (optional, for decoration); Truffles (optional, for decoration); Green French beans (optional, for decoration); Cucumber (for garnish); Red turnip radishes (for garnish)

Why it works: Cucumber and radish match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 212 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Cray-fish in Aspic

Ingredients

Crayfish tails
Aspic jelly
Egg white (optional, for decoration)
Truffles (optional, for decoration)
Green French beans (optional, for decoration)
Cucumber (for garnish)
Red turnip radishes (for garnish)

Directions

Remove the shells from the crayfish tails and wipe them clean.
Set a little aspic jelly to cool in your mold to a depth of ½ inch.
If desired, decorate the jelly with egg white, truffles, and green French beans, using a drop of jelly to secure the decorations.
Once the decorations are set, fill the mold with the crayfish tails.
Pour in more aspic jelly, ensuring it is not warm to preserve your decorations.
To unmold, run lukewarm water over the outside of the mold.
Garnish with cucumber slices and red turnip radishes.

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.

Cucumber + radishtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together212 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Turnip + radishtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together35 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Beans + turniptop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together400 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Cucumber + turniptop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together226 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Beans + cucumbertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together602 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).