Name: Stewed Leeks
Ingredients: leeks; water; thin brown sauce; croutons of fried bread

Why it works: Leek and bread work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 279 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Stewed Leeks

Ingredients

leeks
water
thin brown sauce
croutons of fried bread

Directions

Boil the leeks in water for 5 minutes.
Drain the leeks and add enough thin brown sauce to cover them.
Cook slowly until the leeks are tender.
Serve garnished with croutons of fried bread.

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.

Leek + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together279 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Sauce + breadtop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,934 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Leek + saucetop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together56 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).