Name: Meat Glaze
Ingredients: mixture of meat glaze; 1 egg (or a little milk); browned bread crumbs; fat for topping

Why it works: Egg and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Meat Glaze

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

mixture of meat glaze
1 egg (or a little milk)
browned bread crumbs
fat for topping

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Spread the meat glaze mixture on a plate and let it cool.
Once cold, divide it into 6 or 8 portions and form into round cakes.

Coat and bake

Brush each cake with egg (or milk) and sprinkle with browned bread crumbs.
Place the cakes in a greased baking tin and top each with small pieces of fat.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 15 minutes.

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.

Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,924 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Meat + eggtop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,432 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Meat glaze mixture: Forms the main body of the cakes and gives them a rich, savory flavor.
Egg: Brushed on the cakes, it helps the bread crumbs adhere and promotes browning in the oven.
Browned bread crumbs: Form a crisp, golden crust on the outside of the cakes.
Fat: Melts during baking, adding moisture and richness to the cakes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.