Name: Jenny's Jambalaya
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 25 min
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil; 2 large onions, chopped; 2 (14.5 ounce) cans stewed tomatoes, drained; 2 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and shredded; 1 pound turkey sausage links, without casings, cooked and chopped; 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder; 1 tablespoon hot sauce; salt and pepper to taste; 1 1/2 cups uncooked long-grain rice; 3 cups chicken broth; 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, 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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Chicken + turkeytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together688 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, tomato, chicken, turkey, garlic, sauce, pepper):

Capsicumbetter flavor fit
Spinachabout as good a flavor fit
Onionthe original
Potatoabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, tomato, chicken, turkey, garlic, sauce, pepper. 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).

Jenny's Jambalaya