Why it works: Nutmeg and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Pigeon Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Wash the pigeons, remove the necks, pinions, livers, and gizzards, and add them to the stock.
Quarter the pigeons and brown them nicely.
Strain the stock and add the browned pigeons.
Let it boil for about 30 minutes until nearly ready.
Thicken the soup with flour mixed in a cup of the soup.
Season with nutmeg, lemon juice or vinegar, and mushroom ketchup.
Boil for a few more minutes and serve with the pigeons in the tureen.
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.
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Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Nutmeg + mushroomtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,988 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Flour + ketchuptop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,435 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Lemon + mushroomtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, nutmeg, mushroom, ketchup):
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Limefits about as well
- Avocadofits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, nutmeg, mushroom, ketchup. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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