Name: Angels on Horseback
Ingredients: large, plump oysters; thin slices of bacon; black pepper; butter toast

Why it works: Oyster and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,184 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Angels on Horseback

Ingredients

large, plump oysters
thin slices of bacon
black pepper
butter toast

Directions

Dry the oysters and season them with black pepper.
Wrap each oyster in a slice of bacon and secure with a wooden toothpick.
Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat and add enough prepared oysters to cover the bottom.
Turn the oysters quickly several times until the bacon is lightly browned.
Serve immediately on a hot plate over butter toast.

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.

Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,184 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,663 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).