Name: Chartreuse of Partridges
Ingredients: 2 partridges; 2 carrots; 2 turnips; 1 small Savoy cabbage; seasoned gravy; coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt'); butter

Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Chartreuse of Partridges

Ingredients

Directions

Butter the inside of a large oblong mold.
Boil carrots and turnips in broth until cooked, then drain.
Boil Savoy cabbage in water until cooked, then drain and squeeze out moisture.
Cut the partridges into quarters and stew them in seasoned gravy until tender.
Line the bottom of the mold with strips of carrot and turnip in a pattern.
Line the sides of the mold with sliced carrots and turnips.
Press a layer of cabbage tightly against the sides.
Place the stewed partridges in the center and surround them with the delicate vegetables.

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.

Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,002 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Turnip + cabbagetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together897 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Carrot + cabbagetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,505 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + buttertop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,083 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Turnip + buttertop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,100 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).