Name: Mutton Pie
Ingredients: steaks from a loin or neck of mutton; coarse sea salt; black pepper; 1 shallot, finely chopped; water; pastry for the pie; 1 egg, beaten

Why it works: Pepper and shallot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,898 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Mutton Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Cut steaks from the mutton and remove the fat.
Season the steaks with salt, pepper, and chopped shallot.
Place a little water at the bottom of the pie dish.
Add a little pastry around the edge of the dish.
Cover the dish with the remaining pastry and brush the top with beaten egg.

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.

Pepper + shallottop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,898 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,442 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Mutton + shallottop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together407 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Shallot + eggtop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,380 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Mutton + eggtop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,648 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).