Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Force Meat
Ingredients
Directions
Pound the veal and pass it through a sieve.
Mix the veal with the chopped beef suet and panada.
Season with pepper, coarse sea salt, and nutmeg.
Add the yolks of 6 eggs and 3 egg whites; mix thoroughly.
Gently fold in the whisked egg whites until well combined.
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.
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Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Veal + beeftop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,784 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Beef + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,495 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Nutmeg + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together24,744 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Nutmeg and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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 nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, beef, pepper, egg):
- Parsleyfits better
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, beef, pepper, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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