Name: Escaloped Turkey
Ingredients: remains of cold turkey, bones and gristle removed; powdered cracker crumbs; milk; pepper; coarse sea salt; gravy or hot water; butter; 1 beaten egg; sweet milk

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Escaloped Turkey

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.

Chop the turkey meat into small pieces.
In an earthen baking dish, layer powdered cracker crumbs moistened with milk.
Add a layer of turkey seasoned with pepper and salt.
Repeat layers of cracker crumbs and turkey until the dish is filled.
Pour gravy or a mixture of hot water and butter over the top.
Finish with a layer of cracker crumbs moistened with beaten egg and sweet milk.
Cover the dish and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 30 minutes.
Uncover and bake for an additional 30 minutes until golden brown.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Turkey + milktop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together281 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Turkey + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,592 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Turkey + peppertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,636 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).