Name: Baked Oatmeal and Nuts
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked oatmeal; ½ cup crushed peanuts; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ cup milk; 2¼ teaspoons salt; 1 teaspoon vinegar

Why it works: Peanut and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,048 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Baked Oatmeal and Nuts

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Bake

Mix together the cooked oatmeal, crushed peanuts, pepper, milk, salt, and vinegar.
Pour the mixture into a greased pan.
Bake for 15 minutes.

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.

Peanut + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,048 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Peanut + vinegartop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together443 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Peanut + peppertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together668 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + milktop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together26,984 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked oatmeal: Forms the bulk of the dish and holds the mixture together as it bakes.
Crushed peanuts: Adds richness, texture and a nutty flavor to the baked mixture.
Milk: Adds moisture and helps the mixture bind and set in the oven.
Vinegar: Adds a slight acidity that brightens the flavor of the mixture.