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Ravioli

A baked pasta pocket filled with forcemeat, served with broth and Parmesan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Ravioli

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the dough

  1. In a bowl, mix flour, eggs, and salt to form a dough.

  2. Roll the dough until it is as thin as parchment.

  3. Cut the dough into circular pieces, 3-4 inches in diameter.

Fill and seal

  1. Place a portion of forcemeat on each piece.

  2. Fold the dough over and pinch the edges to seal.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the ravioli in a deep dish, pour broth over them, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 20-30 minutes.

  3. Serve the dish without disturbing the ravioli.

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.

  1. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Egg + parmesan cheesetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,368 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Fish + parmesan cheesetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together55 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Egg + fishtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,782 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Flour + fishtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

All-purpose flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure and elasticity.
Eggs
Bind the dough and add richness and firmness once cooked.
Parmesan cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding savory flavor and a golden crust.
Broth
Adds moisture and flavor as the ravioli bake.

The step that matters

Pinch the edges to seal. If the dough edges are not sealed firmly, the filling can leak out during baking and the pasta can open up. A tight seal keeps the forcemeat enclosed while it cooks.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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