Name: Cream of Roses
Ingredients: 1 ounce blanched sweet almonds; 1 ounce grated Castile soap; 1 ounce oil of almonds; 6 drams white wax; 3 drams spermaceti; ⅛ dram oil of bergamot; ⅛ dram oil of lavender; 3 quarts rose water; 1 pint alcohol

Why it works: Bergamot and lavender work together. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 82 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Cream of Roses

Ingredients

Directions

In a mortar, combine the blanched sweet almonds, grated Castile soap, oil of almonds, white wax, spermaceti, oil of bergamot, and oil of lavender.
Rub the ingredients together until well mixed and form an emulsion.
Strain the mixture into a clean container.
Add the rose water and alcohol, stirring well to combine.

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.

Bergamot + lavendertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together82 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Bergamot + rosetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together61 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,465 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Lavender + rosetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together149 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Almond + bergamottop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together48 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).