Name: Fried Calamari with Romesco
Ingredients: 1 lb. fresh or thawed frozen calamari, cut into; 1⁄2-inch rings, tentacles left intact; 1 cup milk; Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste; 1 oz. French bread chunks (about 2 slices),; crusts removed; 3 Tbs. red wine vinegar; 1⁄3 cup toasted almonds; 1⁄4 cup drained diced tomatoes; 1 roasted red bell pepper, seeded and sliced; 1 garlic clove; 1 tsp. paprika; Pinch of cayenne pepper; 1⁄4 cup olive oil; Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste; Vegetable or canola oil for deep-frying; 1 cup rice flour or all-purpose flour; 1⁄2 cup coarse yellow cornmeal or polenta; 1 Tbs. paprika; 1⁄8 tsp. cayenne pepper, or to taste; Minced fresh flat-leaf parsley for; garnish (optional)

Why it works: Tomato and garlic are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,076 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. 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.

Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,090 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Red wine + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,013 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, pepper, bread, red wine, vinegar, tomato, garlic):

Beansfits better
Chickpeafits better
Lentilsfits better
Almondthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, pepper, bread, red wine, vinegar, tomato, garlic. 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
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Red Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Almond	1 almond (1.2g)	7
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Fried Calamari with Romesco