Name: Haunch of Venison
Ingredients: 1 well-hung haunch of venison (18-25 pounds); coarse black pepper; powdered ginger; greased thick white cartridge paper; flour and water paste

Why it works: Pepper and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,800 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Haunch of Venison

Ingredients

1 well-hung haunch of venison (18-25 pounds)
coarse black pepper
powdered ginger
greased thick white cartridge paper
flour and water paste

Directions

Hang the haunch in a cool, airy place immediately after bringing it in.
Remove the kernel of fat and wipe the area dry.
Dust the haunch with coarse black pepper and powdered ginger.
Examine the haunch twice daily and wipe away any moisture with a dry cloth.
To check readiness, run a skewer into the flesh near the bone.
Before roasting, saw off the shank bone and remove sinews and dark skin.
Wipe the haunch with damp cloths and dry it thoroughly.
Cover the haunch with greased thick white cartridge paper.
Seal the paper with a paste made from flour and water, rolled to ¼ inch thick.

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.

Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,800 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ginger + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,564 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together50,459 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Venison + peppertop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together955 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Venison + flourtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together667 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).