Name: Ultimate Toad in the Hole
Prep time: 40 min
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 100g plain flour; 1 egg; 300ml equal mixture milk and water; 8 rashers streaky bacon; 8 good-quality pork sausages; 1 onion , thinly sliced; 1 tbsp vegetable oil; 2 tbsp vegetable oil; 1 onion , thinly sliced; 2 tsp plain flour; 2 tsp ready-made English mustard; 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce; 600ml chicken or vegetable stock

Why it works: Pork and chicken match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 5,417 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Pork + chickentop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together5,417 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together9,259 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + chickentop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together17,814 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together18,214 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pork + mustardtop 11% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together2,445 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, milk, pork, mustard, sauce, chicken):

Potatobetter flavor fit
Asparagusbetter flavor fit
Shallotbetter flavor fit
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, milk, pork, mustard, sauce, chicken. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

Ultimate Toad in the Hole