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Trifle

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Trifle

Why it works: Mace and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Trifle

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Cut the meat and bones into small pieces.

  2. Place them in a large pot and add water, prepared almonds, mace, salt, and pepper.

  3. Cook slowly on the stove or in the oven until reduced to half the original quantity.

  4. Strain the mixture and let it cool.

  5. Remove all fat from the cooled stock.

  6. Bring the stock to a boil, add vermicelli, and simmer gently for 10 to 15 minutes.

  7. Season to taste and serve.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

  1. Mace + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Meat + almondtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together486 recipes

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

  3. Almond + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,566 recipes

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

  4. Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,777 recipes

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

  5. Almond + macetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,010 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

Mace and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, almond, pepper):

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, almond, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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