Why it works: Tomato and pumpkin work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 713 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Directions
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Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Tomato + pumpkintop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together713 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Star anise + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together312 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
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Cinnamon + cardamomtop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,299 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Ginger + cardamomtop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,114 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the shallot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, star anise, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, tomato, pumpkin):
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Sweet potatobetter flavor fit
- Shallotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, star anise, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, tomato, pumpkin. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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