Name: Ladies' Lunches
Ingredients: eggs; ham; rice; tomatoes; lamb chops; sardines

Why it works: Rice and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,065 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Ladies' Lunches

Ingredients

Directions

Poach the eggs in simmering water until set.
Boil the ham until heated through.
Prepare delicate rice cakes according to package instructions.
Slice the tomatoes.
Broil the lamb chops until cooked to your liking.
Serve the poached eggs, boiled ham, rice cakes, sliced tomatoes, and broiled lamb chops together.
Keep a box of sardines on hand for an easy addition.

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.

Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,065 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Rice + lambtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together439 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Tomato + lambtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together979 recipes

Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Ham + lambtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together160 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,526 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).