Name: Challah, Sausage, and Dried Cherry Stuffing
Yield: Makes 8 to 10 servings
Ingredients: 1 cup (4 ounces) pecans; 1 (1-pound) challah loaf (or other egg bread), cut into 1-inch cubes (about 12 cups); 1 tablespoon olive oil; 1 pound bulk sausage meat (usually sold in a tube); 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces; 3 medium onions, chopped; 4 large celery ribs, chopped; 3 garlic cloves, minced; 1/2 teaspoon allspice; Salt; Freshly ground black pepper; 3/4 cup dried tart (Morello) cherries (4 ounces; see Cooks' note:s); 4 large eggs; 1 1/2 cups; or reduced-sodium chicken broth; 1 cup heavy cream; 3/4 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley; 3 1/2- to 4-quart shallow ceramic or glass baking dish (or two 2-quart shallow baking dishes)

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. 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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Olive + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,779 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Olive + celerytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,667 recipes

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

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

Swap the pecans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, olive, meat, butter, onion, celery, garlic):

Sesamefits better
Beansfits better
Chickpeafits better
Pecansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, olive, meat, butter, onion, celery, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Pork	100g cooked	242
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Cherry	1 cup (138g)	87
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Pecan	1 half (4g)	20
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Allspice	1 tsp ground (1.9g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Meat	not in our table	0

Challah, Sausage, and Dried Cherry Stuffing