Name: Modern Cookery
Ingredients: 2 dozen mushroom buttons; coarse sea salt; ham; herbs; 2-3 tablespoons Harvey's sauce; sherry or Madeira (optional); claret (optional)

Why it works: Mushroom and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,176 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Modern Cookery

Ingredients

Directions

Clean the mushroom buttons with coarse sea salt and a flannel, then wipe them dry.
Slice the mushrooms and add them to the simmered ham and herbs after about 30 minutes.
If mushrooms are unavailable, substitute with 2-3 fresh bay leaves for flavor.
Optionally, stir in 2-3 tablespoons of Harvey's sauce with the wine to deepen the color.

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.

Mushroom + sherrytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,176 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).
Ham + sherrytop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together377 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Mushroom + hamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,486 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Mushroom + saucetop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,480 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,314 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).