Name: Dinner
Ingredients: 5 to 6 ounces of any fish (except salmon); 5 to 6 ounces of any meat (except pork); 1 ounce of dry toast; 2 to 3 glasses of claret, sherry, or Madeira; 2 to 3 ounces of fruit; 1 or 2 rusks; 1 cup of tea (without milk or sugar); 3 to 4 ounces of meat or fish (similar to dinner)

Why it works: Fish and salmon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,078 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Dinner

Ingredients

5 to 6 ounces of any fish (except salmon)
5 to 6 ounces of any meat (except pork)
1 ounce of dry toast
2 to 3 glasses of claret, sherry, or Madeira
2 to 3 ounces of fruit
1 or 2 rusks
1 cup of tea (without milk or sugar)
3 to 4 ounces of meat or fish (similar to dinner)

Directions

Choose any fish except salmon and any meat except pork.
Serve with 1 ounce of dry toast and 2 to 3 glasses of claret, sherry, or Madeira.
For tea, have 2 to 3 ounces of fruit and 1 or 2 rusks with 1 cup of tea without milk or sugar.
For supper, serve 3 to 4 ounces of meat or fish similar to dinner with 1 to 2 glasses of claret.

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.

Fish + salmontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,078 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Meat + porktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,208 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Fish + meattop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together479 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Fish + porktop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together668 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Fish + teatop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together72 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).