Why it works: Flour and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,383 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
To Boil Marrow Bones
Ingredients
Directions
Have the butcher saw the large ends of the bones so they can stand upright.
Place the bones in a pot for boiling, standing upright if possible.
Make a paste with flour and water, and cover the ends of the bones where the marrow is visible.
Tie a cloth tightly over the paste.
Remove the paste before serving the bones upright in a napkin.
Serve with slices of dry toasted bread on the side.
To store, partially boil the bones and keep them in a cool place for several days.
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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Flour + breadtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,383 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and bread barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,383 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
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