Name: Cheese Steaws
Ingredients: 1 quart flour (sifted); 1 pound grated cheese; 2 tablespoons lard; salt to taste; cayenne pepper to taste; water as needed

Why it works: Cheese and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,861 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cheese Steaws

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine the flour, grated cheese, lard, salt, and cayenne pepper.
Add enough water to form a dough that holds together.
Roll out the dough and cut it into thin strips.

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.

Cheese + peppertop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,861 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together50,459 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + cheesetop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,860 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).