Name: Turban of Lobster
Ingredients: 2 onions; 2-3 stalks of celery; 1 pint scalded milk; Salt and pepper to taste; 3 tablespoons flour; Cold milk (as needed); 2 egg yolks; Tomato pulp (optional, for color)

Why it works: Celery and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Turban of Lobster

Ingredients

Directions

Finely chop the onions and celery, then pass them through a sieve.
In a pot, combine the sieved mixture with 1 pint of scalded milk, salt, and pepper. Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring constantly.
Dilute 3 tablespoons of flour with cold milk, then add to the pot and stir well.
Beat the yolks of 2 eggs, dilute with a little hot soup, and stir into the soup mixture.
Remove the tips and cut the custard into slices, then into cubes or fanciful shapes.
If desired, substitute tomato pulp for milk or cream to achieve a pink color.

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.

Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,377 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

Swap the tomato

The recipe marks tomato as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, celery, milk, pepper, flour, egg):

Carrotfits better
Leekfits better
Chivefits better
Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, celery, milk, pepper, flour, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.