Name: Mum's Swedish Meatballs
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 35 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons butter; 1 onion, chopped; 2 slices bread, cubed; 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk, divided; 1 1/2 pounds ground beef; 1/2 pound ground pork; 2 eggs; 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce; 1 tablespoon dried parsley; 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg; 1 teaspoon ground allspice; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper; 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper; 2 tablespoons olive oil, or as needed; 4 cups beef stock; 1/4 cup all-purpose flour; 1/4 cup sherry

Why it works: Beef and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,690 recipes. Both carry 12-methyltridecanal, which smells tallowy, beefy. 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.

Beef + porktop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,690 recipes

Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).
Evaporated milk + saucetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together53 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Onion + porktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,214 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 onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, bread, evaporated milk, beef, pork, egg, sauce):

Potatofits about as well
Capsicumfits about as well
Tomatofits about as well
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, bread, evaporated milk, beef, pork, egg, sauce. 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
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Allspice	1 tsp ground (1.9g)	5
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Mum's Swedish Meatballs