Name: To Clarify Dripping
Ingredients: 2 ounces dripping; 1 teacup boiling milk; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; ½ tablespoon black pepper; 1 tablespoon fine bread crumbs

Why it works: Milk and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

To Clarify Dripping

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

In a saucepan, combine 2 ounces of dripping and 1 teacup of boiling milk.
Place potatoes on a flat dish and put the head on top.
Sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon of coarse sea salt, ½ tablespoon of black pepper, and 1 tablespoon of fine bread crumbs.
Add small pieces of dripping on the head to baste it.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 30 minutes.
Serve in the same dish it was baked in.

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.

Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,964 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together26,984 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).