Name: Chicken Patties with Ham
Ingredients: 6 ounces white meat (chicken); 3 ounces ham; 1 ounce butter; 2 tablespoons flour; 2 tablespoons cream; 2 tablespoons white stock; a pinch of nutmeg; a pinch of cayenne pepper; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; juice of ½ lime

Why it works: Nutmeg and pepper 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 ↓

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.

Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together13,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Meat + chickentop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,449 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, chicken, ham, butter, flour, cream, pepper):

Nutmegthe original
Thymefits about as well
Celeryfits about as well
Parsleyfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, chicken, ham, butter, flour, cream, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Chicken Patties with Ham