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Pairing

Sesame + Leek

Promising but untested: they share 228 flavor molecules (strong aroma overlap), yet no recipe in our pairing index uses both. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs.

Smell alikestrong
Cooked together0 recipes
Ranktop 21% of pairs
Try them in the pairing tool Sesame Leek
67sesame only 228shared 33leek only Sesame · 295 Leek · 261
Circle size = number of flavor molecules on record. Overlap = molecules they share.

Do sesame and leek go together?

Possibly. No recipe in our pairing index uses both, and they share 228 flavor molecules. That places them in the top 21% of every ingredient pair we score.

Why they work

Almost everything leek carries, sesame has too: 228 of leek's 261 flavor molecules also occur in sesame. Among the shared key aromas are ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity) and 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

What each one brings

sesame

The roast. Roasted notes make up 11% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 7% for leek. It carries 67 molecules leek doesn't have.

leek

The sulfurous side. Sulfurous notes make up 8% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 4% for sesame. It carries 33 molecules sesame doesn't have.

Add a third ingredient

  • Welsh onion: the best fit for both, top 1% of pairs with sesame, top 1% with leek.
  • Lettuce: top 1% of pairs with sesame, top 1% with leek.
  • Chive: top 4% of pairs with sesame, top 1% with leek.
  • Spinach: top 1% of pairs with sesame, top 2% with leek.

Ranked by the average of its two pairing scores. Only foods used in at least 100 recipes are suggested.

Recipes with sesame and leek

We have no browsable recipe that lists both sesame and leek. With this much shared aroma, it is the kind of novel pairing worth testing.

Can you swap one for the other?

Fairly well, for flavor. Each carries most of the other's flavor molecules (77% of sesame's and 87% of leek's are shared). This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.

All 228 shared molecules

See every shared molecule grouped by chemical class, with key aromas marked, plus the 67 only in sesame and the 33 only in leek.

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Sesame and leek questions

Do sesame and leek go together?

Promising but untested: they share 228 flavor molecules (strong aroma overlap), yet no recipe in our pairing index uses both. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs.

Why do sesame and leek taste good together?

Almost everything leek carries, sesame has too: 228 of leek's 261 flavor molecules also occur in sesame. Among the shared key aromas are ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity) and 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

What goes with sesame and leek?

Welsh onion is the best third ingredient: top 1% of pairs with sesame and top 1% with leek. Lettuce and chive also fit both.

Can I use leek instead of sesame?

Fairly well, for flavor. Each carries most of the other's flavor molecules (77% of sesame's and 87% of leek's are shared). This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.

Compare other ingredients

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2

Two ingredients gives the full side-by-side breakdown; add a third to see a similarity matrix across all of them (up to 6).

Ranks compare this pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. Molecule counts are what the studies and databases we aggregate have reported for each ingredient: a measure of coverage, not a full census. How we score pairs

Cite this analysis
Plain text
Compound Kitchen (2026). Compound similarity analysis: Sesame vs Leek. https://compkitchen.com/compare/sesame-vs-leek. Accessed 2026-11-05.
BibTeX
@misc{compkitchen_compare_compound_similarity_analysis_sesame_vs_leek_2026,
  title  = {Compound similarity analysis: Sesame vs Leek},
  author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://compkitchen.com/compare/sesame-vs-leek},
  note   = {Accessed: 2026-11-05}
}

Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719459 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.