Name: Tortellini Chowder
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 2/3 cup chopped onion; 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper; 1/3 cup chopped green chile pepper; 2 tablespoons minced garlic; 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced; 1 tablespoon margarine; 3 cups vegetable broth; 2 cups peeled and cubed potatoes; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper; 2 cups cheese tortellini; 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour; 2 tablespoons vegetable oil; 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained; 1 pint half-and-half cream

Why it works: Jalapeno and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 561 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. 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.

Jalapeno + flourtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together561 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,082 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Jalapeno + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together688 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 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 potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, pepper, garlic, jalapeno, cumin, cheese, flour):

Spinachfits better
Kalefits better
Okrafits better
Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, pepper, garlic, jalapeno, cumin, cheese, flour. 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
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Corn	1/2 cup kernels (82g)	77
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Red Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Tortellini Chowder