Name: Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Baby Carrots
Yield: Makes 6 servings
Ingredients: 2 pounds baby carrots, peeled, trimmed, leaving 1/2 inch of green tops attached; 2 tablespoons water; 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil; 1 tablespoon butter, diced; 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced; 1 small jalapeño (preferably red), seeded, coarsely chopped; 1 teaspoon honey; 1/2 teaspoon ancho chile powder*; 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin; 1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt; 2 1-to 1 1/4-pound pork tenderloins; 2 teaspoons dried oregano; 2 teaspoons ground cumin; 1 teaspoon ancho chile powder; 1 teaspoon smoked paprika**; 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt; 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Why it works: Carrot and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 777 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells 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.

Carrot + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together777 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,082 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Clove + cumintop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,306 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,873 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, olive, butter, garlic, honey, cumin, pork):

Thymefits better
Oreganofits better
Parsleyfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, olive, butter, garlic, honey, cumin, pork. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pork	100g cooked	242
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Honey	1 tbsp (21g)	64
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Oregano	1 tsp dried (1.8g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Baby Carrots