Name: Aspic
Ingredients: 3 oz. gelatine; 1 head of lettuce; ½ cup mayonnaise; seasoning to taste; lemon juice; tomato aspic

Why it works: Lettuce and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,655 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Aspic

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare a little tomato aspic in a border mold.
Pound the chicken and mix it with seasoning, whipped cream, whipped aspic, and melted gelatine.
Pour the mixture into the mold and let it set.
Once set, turn it out and place shredded lettuce in the center, topping it with mayonnaise.
Chop the remaining tomato aspic and arrange it around the dish.

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.

Lettuce + tomatotop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,655 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lettuce + lemontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,559 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Lemon + tomatotop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,592 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).