Why it works: Spinach and mushroom work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 778 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓
Four Partridges
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the partridges by cleaning and seasoning them.
Sauté the mushrooms until tender.
Cook the spinach and eggs together until the eggs are set.
Serve the partridges with the spinach and mushroom mixture.
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.
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Spinach + mushroomtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together778 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Egg + mushroomtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,987 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Spinach + eggtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,323 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the spinach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, mushroom):
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Shallotfits about as well
- Spinachthe original
- Chivefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, mushroom. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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