Name: Scrumptious Sauerkraut Balls
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 20 min
Yield: 32 balls
Ingredients: 1 pound pork sausage; 1/4 cup finely chopped onion; 1 (14 ounce) can sauerkraut, well drained and finely chopped; 1/2 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard; 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt; 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper; 2 tablespoons Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs; 4 ounces cream cheese, softened; 2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes; 1/4 cup all-purpose flour; 1 egg, beaten; 1/4 cup milk; 3/4 cup Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs; 6 cups vegetable oil for deep-frying

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 29,058 recipes mention both. 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together9,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Mustard + garlictop 6% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together4,053 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together9,259 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

Flavor stand-ins for the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, onion, mustard, garlic, pepper, bread, cream cheese):

Capersbetter flavor fit
Thymebetter flavor fit
Celeryabout as good a flavor fit
Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, onion, mustard, garlic, pepper, bread, cream cheese. 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).

Scrumptious Sauerkraut Balls