Name: Mutton and Kidney Pudding
Ingredients: slices of underdone leg of mutton; kidneys; minced onions; good gravy; walnut ketchup

Why it works: Onion and walnut are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,771 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Mutton and Kidney Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Cut slices from an underdone leg of mutton, including kidneys.
Layer the mutton and kidneys alternately with minced onions.
Prepare a shape or use pastry for the pudding, but do not over-season.
Pour good gravy into the pudding after boiling.
Use walnut ketchup instead of mushroom ketchup for flavor.

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.

Onion + walnuttop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,771 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Mutton + oniontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,531 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Onion + ketchuptop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,997 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Walnut + ketchuptop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together596 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Mutton + ketchuptop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together367 recipes

Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).