Name: Vol-au-vent
Ingredients: 1 vol-au-vent crust; Sweetbreads; Mushrooms; 1 cup Quenelles; Chicken Sauté; Wine; Truffles; Cocks-combs (optional)

Why it works: Mushroom and chicken are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓

Vol-au-vent

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Heat the empty vol-au-vent crust until very hot.
Fill the crust with Sweetbreads and Mushrooms.
Add Quenelles to the filling.
Alternatively, fill with Chicken Sauté and add wine, truffles, and cocks-combs if desired.

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.

Mushroom + chickentop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,172 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
Mushroom + truffletop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,900 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Mushroom + winetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,632 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).
Chicken + truffletop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together756 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Chicken + winetop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,496 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).