Name: Rosemary Beef with Root Vegetables
Ingredients: 1 pound new potatoes, quartered; 3/4 pound parsnips, cut diagonally into 1 1/2-inch pieces; 1/2 pound carrots, cut diagonally into 1 1/2-inch pieces; 4 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary, divided; 1 teaspoon salt, divided; 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided; 3 teaspoons olive oil, divided; Vegetable oil cooking spray; 1 pound beef (center-cut eye of round roast), about 3 inches in diameter; 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic; 1/2 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt; 2 1/2 tablespoons drained bottled horseradish; 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar; 2 tablespoons snipped fresh chives or chopped fresh parsley

Why it works: Parsnip and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,097 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

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.

Parsnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,097 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Rosemary + olivetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,590 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Potato + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,517 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Rosemary + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,180 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

Swap the parsnip

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, carrot, rosemary, pepper, olive, beef, garlic):

Tomatofits better
Spinachfits better
Capsicumfits better
Parsnipthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, carrot, rosemary, pepper, olive, beef, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Parsnip	1/2 cup (78g)	55
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Rosemary	1 tsp dried (1.2g)	4
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Chives	1 tbsp (3g)	1
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Horseradish	not in our table	0

Rosemary Beef with Root Vegetables