Name: Helga's Russian Borscht
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 2 h 20 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons canola oil; 1 pound lamb stew meat, cut into 1/2-inch cubes; 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped; 3 1/2 quarts beef broth; 1/4 cup red wine vinegar; 2 tablespoons lemon juice; 1 1/4 pounds cabbage, cored and shredded; 1 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes, diced; 2 pounds beets, peeled and diced (tops reserved); 2 bay leaves; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 1 pint sour cream; 1/4 cup chopped dill

Why it works: Lamb and beef match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 896 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. 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.

Lamb + beeftop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together896 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Red wine + vinegartop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together575 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Canola oil + oniontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,150 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Beef + red winetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,017 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (canola oil, lamb, meat, onion, beef, red wine, vinegar):

Avocadofits better
Plumfits better
Grapefits better
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against canola oil, lamb, meat, onion, beef, red wine, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Lamb	100g cooked	294
Beef	100g cooked	250
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Beet	1/2 cup (85g)	35
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Dill	5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Helga's Russian Borscht