Name: Sturgeon Soup À LA Chinoise
Ingredients: head of a large sturgeon; cold water; veal stock; salt; pepper; nutmeg

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 ↓

Sturgeon Soup À LA Chinoise

Ingredients

Directions

Saw the sturgeon head in half from the back down to the snout.
Cut the halves into fist-sized pieces and soak them in cold water for several hours, changing the water frequently.
Place the sturgeon pieces in a large pot with cold water and boil gently until the shell is easily detached from the cartilage.
Remove the cartilage and place it in a large pot.
Moisten the cartilage with enough veal stock to make soup for your guests.

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 + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together13,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,049 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sturgeon + vealtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together38 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Veal + nutmegtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,542 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Sturgeon + nutmegtop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together31 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).