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Garlic Noodles with Miso Butter

This is a variation of one of the most popular recipes from my cookbook (Todd & Diane posted the recipe for Garlic Butter Noodles) and SteamyKitchen.com (Garlic Scallion Noodles). I've one-uppe...

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Why it works: Butter and miso work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and 44 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Prep5 min
Cook10 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat, soy, shellfish (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 a large pot of water to a boil, add the noodles, and cook until tender, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, reserving a splash of the cooking water.

  2. While the noodles cook, slice the mushrooms. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the mushrooms, and cook 4 to 5 minutes until browned.

  3. Stir the garlic into the mushrooms and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant.

  4. In a small bowl, stir together the miso and the Maggi sauce (or oyster sauce) with a splash of water to loosen it.

  5. Add the drained noodles and the miso mixture to the skillet. Toss over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes, adding a little reserved cooking water if needed so the noodles are coated.

  6. Sprinkle the chopped green onion over the noodles and serve hot.

By steamykitchen. 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. Butter + misotop 10% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together44 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29,030 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together12,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Pasta + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,077 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Garlic + misotop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together128 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pasta, butter, garlic, mushroom, miso, sauce):

  1. Spinachabout as good a flavor fit
  2. Onionthe original
  3. Kaleabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Tomatoabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against pasta, butter, garlic, mushroom, miso, sauce. 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).