Why it works: Lemon and white pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,658 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Dutch Toast
Ingredients
Directions
Mince the cold poultry or meat and season it well.
Add the cold dressed vegetables and mix with the eggs.
Simmer the mixture in a little gravy until hot.
Prepare a square of toast and place the hot mixture on top.
Squeeze a little lemon juice over the dish and sprinkle with white pepper.
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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Lemon + white peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,658 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Egg + white peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,312 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
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Meat + eggtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,432 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Meat + lemontop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,817 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Egg and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 44,316 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 white pepper
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, egg, lemon):
- Parsleyfits better
- Thymefits better
- Tarragonfits better
- White pepperthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, egg, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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