Name: Fowl, Roasted
Ingredients: 1 whole fowl; coarse sea salt; fine dry flour; watercress (for garnish); bread sauce (for serving); gravy (for serving)

Why it works: Flour and watercress match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 340 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Fowl, Roasted

Ingredients

Directions

Pick and singe the fowl, then truss it firmly.
Season the fowl with coarse sea salt.
Roast the fowl over an open fire, basting frequently, or in a Dutch oven, basting occasionally.
Roast for 50 minutes to 1.5 hours, depending on size.
Serve garnished with watercress, and with bread sauce and gravy.

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.

Flour + watercresstop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together340 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Watercress + breadtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together307 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,078 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Watercress + saucetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together295 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Bread + saucetop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,934 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).