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Holiday Buffet Meatballs

"I received this recipe from a dear neighbor many years ago. The meatballs are very good and easy to make and the sauce ingredients are items that you would normally have on hand. If you have the meatballs, you can whip up this appetizer in a snap."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients
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Holiday Buffet Meatballs

Why it works: Ketchup and sauce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,099 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Holiday Buffet Meatballs

12 servings
Prep10 min
Cook35 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

343Calories
28 gProtein
16 gFat
20 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Cloves1 tsp ground (2g)7
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Meatballnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Ketchup + saucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,099 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Mustard + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Mustard + clovetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,829 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Ketchup + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together260 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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 (ketchup, sugar, vinegar, sauce, mustard, garlic, beef):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ketchup, sugar, vinegar, sauce, mustard, garlic, beef. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.