Name: Brandy Melon-rinds
Ingredients: melon rinds; cold water; lemon juice; fresh angelica; fresh ginger root or essence of lemon

Why it works: Lemon and angelica match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 189 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓

Brandy Melon-rinds

Ingredients

Directions

Cut away the juicy part of the melon and the superficial part of the rind.
Cut the rind into square pieces and place them in a basin with cold water and lemon juice.
Heat the basin on the fire for 2-3 boilings, then let it stew for 1 hour.
Transfer the pieces to another bowl of water with lemon juice to cool.
Prepare a syrup with fresh angelica and fresh ginger root or essence of lemon.

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.

Lemon + angelicatop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together189 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,154 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Melon + gingertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together342 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Angelica + gingertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together49 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Melon + lemontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together362 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).