Name: Galantines D’anguille, a LA Gelée
Ingredients: 2 large eels; seasoning; galantine stuffing (equal parts fish, veal or pork, and fresh lard); anchovy fillets; raw truffle fillets; raw foie gras fillets; shelled pistachios

Why it works: Fish and anchovy work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 637 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Galantines D’anguille, a LA Gelée

Ingredients

Directions

Remove the skin from the eels and discard the heads.
Split the eels open along the belly and remove the bones.
Thin the flesh by cutting it, then divide each eel into two pieces.
Season the cut sides and lay them on a towel, skin side down.
Spread a thick layer of galantine stuffing over the flesh.
Arrange anchovy fillets, raw truffle fillets, and raw foie gras fillets on top.
Sprinkle with shelled pistachios, then roll the eels into large sausages.

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.

Fish + anchovytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together637 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Fish + truffletop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together137 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Truffle + pistachiotop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together92 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Anchovy + truffletop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together241 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Fish + pistachiotop 32% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).