Name: Latkes with Lots of Sauces
Yield: Serves 4-6
Ingredients: 1 cup (8 oz/250 g) sour cream; 3 oz (90 g) lox, diced; 1 Tbsp minced fresh chives; 1 cup (9 oz/280 g) applesauce; 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon; 1 Tbsp light brown sugar; 1 Tbsp granulated sugar; 1 tsp ground ginger; 4 Russet potatoes, peeled; 1 yellow onion, minced; 3 large eggs, lightly beaten; 1/4 cup (1 1/2 oz/45 g) plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour; 2 Tbsp minced fresh chives; 1 garlic clove, minced; Salt and freshly ground pepper; Olive oil for frying

Why it works: Cinnamon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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.

Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,380 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Chive + potatotop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together611 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Chive + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,907 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ginger + oniontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,595 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 onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, chive, cinnamon, sugar, ginger, potato, egg):

Beetrootfits better
Shallotfits better
Welsh onionfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, chive, cinnamon, sugar, ginger, potato, egg. 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
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Chives	1 tbsp (3g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Latkes with Lots of Sauces