Name: Hickory Nut Macaroons
Ingredients: 1 cup hickory nut meat, pounded fine; 1 teaspoon mixed ground spices; 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg; Frosting (as for cake); Flour (for dusting hands); Butter (for greasing tins)

Why it works: Nutmeg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Hickory Nut Macaroons

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

1 cup hickory nut meat, pounded fine
1 teaspoon mixed ground spices
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Frosting (as for cake)
Flour (for dusting hands)
Butter (for greasing tins)

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the mixture

Combine hickory nut meat, mixed spices, and nutmeg with enough frosting to make a manageable mixture.
Flour your hands and shape the mixture into balls the size of nutmegs.

Bake

Place the balls on buttered baking sheets, leaving space for spreading.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.

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.

Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together24,377 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,594 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Meat + nutmegtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,656 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Hickory nut meat: Provides the main nutty flavor and body of the macaroons.
Frosting: Binds the nut meat and spices into a mixture that holds its shape.