Name: Cutlets of Lamb, Cold
Ingredients: Lamb cutlets; Aspic jelly; Cooked vegetables (peas, beans, etc.); Mayonnaise or French salad dressing

Why it works: Peas and beans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 949 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Cutlets of Lamb, Cold

Ingredients

Lamb cutlets
Aspic jelly
Cooked vegetables (peas, beans, etc.)
Mayonnaise or French salad dressing

Directions

Trim and flatten the lamb cutlets.
Cook the cutlets in butter by sautéing or grilling, or braise them for better flavor.
Press the cooked cutlets under a heavy weight until cold.
Pour a layer of aspic jelly into a large dish and let it set.
Arrange the cutlets in the set aspic jelly and cover with another layer of aspic jelly, then let it set again.
Chill the dish on ice for about 1 hour.
Cut the set cutlets out with a sharp knife and arrange them in a circle on a round dish.
Fill the center with seasoned cooked vegetables and garnish with cubes of set aspic jelly before serving.

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.

Peas + beanstop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together949 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Lamb + beanstop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together158 recipes

Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Lamb + peastop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together650 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).