Name: Common Veal Stuffing
Ingredients: ½ cup finely shredded suet; ½ cup grated bread crumbs; 2 tablespoons chopped sweet herbs; 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; Optional: a little grated smoked beef or a piece of pounded tongue

Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Common Veal Stuffing

Ingredients

½ cup finely shredded suet
½ cup grated bread crumbs
2 tablespoons chopped sweet herbs
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt
Optional: a little grated smoked beef or a piece of pounded tongue

Directions

In a mortar, combine the suet and bread crumbs.
Add the chopped herbs, grated lemon peel, pepper, and salt.
Pound the mixture until well combined.
For white poultry, mix in a little grated smoked beef or pounded tongue if desired.

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.

Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Bread + beeftop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,032 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,964 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Bread + lemontop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,445 recipes

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