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 4Ingredients
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.
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.
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.
Stir the garlic into the mushrooms and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant.
In a small bowl, stir together the miso and the Maggi sauce (or oyster sauce) with a splash of water to loosen it.
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.
Sprinkle the chopped green onion over the noodles and serve hot.
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.
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Butter + misotop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together44 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Butter + mushroomtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together12,516 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Pasta + garlictop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,077 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Garlic + misotop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned 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):
- Spinachabout as good a flavor fit
- Onionthe original
- Kaleabout as good a flavor fit
- 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).
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