Name: Pine or Melon
Ingredients: 1 pineapple; 1 melon; coarse sea salt; black pepper

Why it works: Pineapple and melon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 114 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Pine or Melon

Ingredients

1 pineapple
1 melon
coarse sea salt
black pepper

Directions

Place vine leaves on a serving dish.
Stand the pineapple on the leaves; if it wobbles, cut a slice from the bottom to level it.
Position the melon with the stalk facing up.
Serve the melon with coarse sea salt and black pepper as a summer luncheon dish.

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.

Pineapple + melontop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together114 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Pineapple + peppertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together533 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Melon + peppertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together231 recipes

Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).