Name: Ragù Alla Bolognese
Ingredients: 4 tablespoons unsalted butter; 4 tablespoons flour; 2 2/3 cups milk; Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste; 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 3 ounces pancetta, finely chopped; 1 medium onion, minced; 3 medium stalk celery with leaves, minced; 3 small carrot, minced; 10 ounces ground pork; 10 oz ounces ground beef; 2 ounce thinly sliced Prosciutto, chopped; 2/3 cup dry red wine; 1 1/2 cups chicken stock; 2 cups milk; 3 cups canned plum tomatoes, drained; Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste; 4 tablespoons unsalted butter; 4 tablespoons flour; 2 2/3 cups milk; Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste; Freshly grated nutmeg to taste; 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 3 ounces pancetta, finely chopped; 1 medium onion, minced; 3 medium stalk celery with leaves, minced; 3 small carrot, minced; 10 ounces ground pork; 10 oz ounces ground beef; 2 ounce thinly sliced Prosciutto, chopped

Why it works: Celery and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. 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.

Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Pepper + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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 (butter, flour, milk, pepper, olive, celery, carrot):

Capsicumfits better
Potatofits better
Parsnipfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, pepper, olive, celery, carrot. 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
Beef	100g cooked	250
Pork	100g cooked	242
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Plum	1 medium (66g)	30
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Ragù Alla Bolognese