Name: Devilled Biscuits
Ingredients: thin biscuits; good olive oil; pepper; coarse sea salt

Why it works: Olive and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,263 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Devilled Biscuits

Ingredients

thin biscuits
good olive oil
pepper
coarse sea salt

Directions

Soak the biscuits in olive oil.
Season both sides with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Toast the biscuits on a grill over the fire until hot.
Serve immediately.

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.

Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,263 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Biscuit + peppertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together841 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Biscuit + olivetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together153 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).