Name: Grass-Fed Beef Meatloaf in a Bacon Blanket
Yield: Makes 4 servings (with generous leftovers)
Ingredients: 1 cup fresh bread crumbs (ground in food processor from 2 slices of bread); 1/2 cup milk; 1 medium onion, finely chopped; 2 medium carrots, finely chopped; 1 large celery rib, finely chopped; 4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped; 2 tablespoons olive oil; Salt; 1 1/2 pounds ground grass-fed beef (preferably ground once; see Cooks' Notes); 1/2 pound ground pork (preferably shoulder, not lean; and ground once; see Cooks' Notes); 1/2 cup ketchup; 2 large eggs, lightly beaten; 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce; 2 teaspoons smoked paprika (optional; see Cooks' Notes); 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 6 bacon slices, halved crosswise; A large, heavy rimmed sheet pan or flameproof roasting pan (not glass); instant-read thermometer

Why it works: Carrot and celery 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.

Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,873 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 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 clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, milk, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, olive):

Parsleyfits better
Thymefits better
Cuminfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, olive. 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
Bread	1 slice (30g) white	79
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Grass-Fed Beef Meatloaf in a Bacon Blanket