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Mark's Nearly Famous Sloppy Joes

"I've been tweaking this recipe for years and think it's finally perfected. Like a good chili, it may be even better the second day. Serve on toasted hamburger buns."

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Mark's Nearly Famous Sloppy Joes

Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Mark's Nearly Famous Sloppy Joes

10 servings
Prep30 min
Cook4 hr

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

601Calories
63 gProtein
20 gFat
42 gCarbs

Counts 14 of 17 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 14 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Chicken100g cooked165
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Soupnot in our table0
Saucenot in our table0
Smokenot 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. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Celery + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Beef + chickentop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,148 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  5. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, celery, chicken, tomato, sugar, lemon):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, celery, chicken, tomato, sugar, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.