Name: Veal and Ham Pie
Ingredients: 1 pound veal cutlet, diced; ¼ pound ham, diced; 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt; 1 teaspoon black pepper; 1 teacup veal gravy; ¼ ounce gelatine

Why it works: Veal and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,264 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Veal and Ham Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare a pie crust as for pork pie, rolling it thin.
Layer four or five thin layers of crust on the edge of the dish.
Mix the diced veal and ham, then season with salt and pepper.
Place the meat mixture in the crust and finish as for pork pie.
Make gravy from veal trimmings and dissolve gelatine in it.
When the pie is nearly cold, remove the top ornament and pour the jelly into the pie.
Replace the ornament and let the pie cool completely.

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.

Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,264 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,049 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,058 recipes

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