Name: Crunchy Bread Dressing with Bacon and Leeks
Ingredients: 1-lb. loaf rustic country bread, cut into 1/2-inch; pieces; 8 thick-cut bacon slices, about 8 oz. total, cut; into 1/4-inch dice; 2 Tbs. unsalted butter; 3 leeks, white portion only, halved lengthwise,; sliced crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices and; rinsed well; 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice; 1 garlic clove, minced; Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste; 1 cup turkey or chicken stock, plus more as; needed; 1 cup milk; 1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme; 1 cup chopped green onions, green portion only

Why it works: Leek and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,310 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. 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.

Leek + carrottop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,310 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Leek + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together150 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,873 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 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 garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, leek, carrot, clove, pepper, turkey):

Thymefits better
Parsleyfits better
Marjoramfits better
Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, leek, carrot, clove, pepper, turkey. 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
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Crunchy Bread Dressing with Bacon and Leeks