Name: Turtle Soup
Ingredients: ½ cup turtle fat; 3 pounds turtle meat; 4 ounces butter; 3 pounds raw ham, sliced; 40 pounds leg of beef; knuckles of veal; 4 old hens

Why it works: Beef and veal are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,784 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Turtle Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Soak turtle fat in cold spring water for several hours to cleanse it.
Use a meat saw to divide the turtle shells into manageable pieces.
Scald the shells in boiling water to separate them from the horny substance.
Place the turtle pieces in a large stockpot with fresh hot water and boil until the glutinous substance separates from the bones.
Cool the turtle pieces, then cut them into 1.5-inch squares.
Return the bones to the broth and boil for an additional hour to extract flavor.
In a separate stockpot, melt butter and layer with ham, beef, veal, and hens.

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.

Beef + vealtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,784 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Meat + beeftop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,533 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Meat + hamtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,095 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ham + beeftop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,729 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Ham + vealtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,264 recipes

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