Name: Pappardelle with Rich Meat Sauce
Ingredients: 2 oz. dried porcini mushrooms (optional); About 1 1/2 cups hot water, if using dried mushrooms; 2 Tbs. unsalted butter; 2 Tbs. olive oil; 1 1/2 cups finely chopped yellow or red onion; 2/3 cup peeled and finely chopped carrot; 1/2 cup finely chopped celery; 1 lb. ground beef or half beef and half pork; 1 cup white wine; 3 Tbs. tomato paste; 1 tsp. salt; 1 tsp. ground pepper; 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg; 4 cups beef broth, heated; 1 to 2 cups heavy cream or milk (optional); 1 lb. fresh pappardelle; 4 Tbs. unsalted butter (optional); About 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

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).
Mushroom + beeftop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,232 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Mushroom + white winetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,765 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,571 recipes

Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, butter, olive, onion, carrot, beef, white wine):

Thymefits better
Garlicfits better
Parsleyfits about as well
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, butter, olive, onion, carrot, beef, white wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Pork	100g cooked	242
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Mushrooms	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Porcini	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

Pappardelle with Rich Meat Sauce