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Polenta with Rosemary and Parmesan

"Creamy polenta is seasoned with Parmesan and rosemary -- delicious served with osso buco (braised lamb or veal shanks). This is excellent without the rosemary if you don't care for the flavor."

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Why it works: Rosemary and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,324 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

The recipe

6 cups
Prep15 min
Cook45 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Bring the chicken broth, water, milk, minced garlic, chopped rosemary and 1 teaspoon salt to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.

  2. Reduce the heat to low. Whisk in the yellow cornmeal in a slow steady stream so it does not clump.

  3. Cook over low heat, stirring often with a wooden spoon, for about 40 to 45 minutes until thick and creamy and the grains are tender.

  4. Stir in the shredded Parmesan until melted. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

  5. If the polenta gets too thick before serving, loosen it with a splash of hot water and stir well.

  6. Spoon into warm bowls and serve immediately, with extra Parmesan on top if desired.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Rosemary + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Chicken + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together10,839 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  3. Garlic + rosemarytop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,179 recipes

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

  4. Garlic + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together27,044 recipes

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

  5. Chicken + rosemarytop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,075 recipes

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

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

Flavor stand-ins for the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, milk, rosemary, parmesan cheese, pepper):

  1. Basilbetter flavor fit
  2. Thymebetter flavor fit
  3. Oreganobetter flavor fit
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, milk, rosemary, parmesan cheese, 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).