Name: Turkey Meatball Garlic Bread Heroes
Yield: Makes 8 servings
Ingredients: 1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes in purée; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 small onion, finely chopped; 3 garlic cloves, minced; 1 teaspoon sugar; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 3 cups coarse fresh bread crumbs (from 5 to 6 slices firm white sandwich bread); 2/3 cup whole milk; 2 large eggs, lightly beaten; 1 1/4 cups grated Pecorino Romano (about 5 ounces); 3 garlic cloves, minced; 3 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley; 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 2 pounds ground turkey (not breast meat); 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 tablespoon minced garlic; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons grated Pecorino Romano; 2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley; 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 12 hot dog or long potato buns or hoagie rolls; An instant-read thermometer

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).
Tomato + olivetop 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).
Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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 (tomato, olive, onion, garlic, sugar, bread, milk):

Cuminfits better
Thymefits better
Oreganofits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, olive, onion, garlic, sugar, bread, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Bread	1 slice (30g) white	79
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Oregano	1 tsp dried (1.8g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Meat	not in our table	0
Hot Dog	not in our table	0

Turkey Meatball Garlic Bread Heroes