Name: Br^une Bouillon
Ingredients: raw ham, diced; onions, sliced; meat for bouillon; coarse sea salt; water

Why it works: Ham and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Br^une Bouillon

Ingredients

Directions

Place diced raw ham in the bottom of a casserole.
Layer sliced onions on top of the ham.
Add the meat intended for the bouillon and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
Heat on the stove until it begins to brown.
Gradually add enough water and let it simmer for several hours until the flavor is extracted from the meat.
Strain the mixture through a sieve.

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.

Ham + meattop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,095 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Onion + meattop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,364 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ham + oniontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,159 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).