Name: Rissoles of Meat
Ingredients: leftover veal; leftover mutton; leftover bacon; haricot beans; beetroot; marmalade pudding

Why it works: Beans and beetroot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 215 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Rissoles of Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Combine leftover veal, mutton, and bacon in a bowl.
Form the mixture into small patties.
Fry the patties in a pan until golden brown.
Serve with haricot beans and beetroot.
Finish with warmed marmalade pudding.

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.

Beans + beetroottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together215 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Veal + muttontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,394 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
Mutton + beanstop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together131 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Veal + beanstop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together158 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Veal + beetroottop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together172 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).