Name: Meat Puddings
Ingredients: 8 ounces all-purpose flour; 6 ounces shredded suet; ½ cup water; 1-2 minced onions; 1 pound meat (rump steak, pork, or other); 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt; 1 teaspoon black pepper

Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Meat Puddings

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, mix flour and shredded suet.
Add water gradually to form a paste.
Flour your board and roll out the paste.
Grease a quart basin and line it with the crust, reserving some for the cover.
Boil minced onions in ½ pint of water.
Cut the meat into serving pieces, removing excess fat.
Layer the meat in the basin, sprinkling salt and pepper between layers.

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 + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + meattop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,364 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Flour + oniontop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together32,460 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together50,459 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,777 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).