Name: Moroccan Short Rib Tagine with Spiced Couscous
Ingredients: 3 Tbs. ras el hanout; 1 Tbs. sweet paprika; 1 tsp. salt, plus more, to taste; 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper, plus more, to taste; 3 lb. short ribs, cut into serving pieces, external fat trimmed to 1/4 inch; 2 Tbs. olive oil; 1/2 large yellow onion, diced; 2 carrots, peeled and diced; 1 cup cubed peeled butternut squash; 4 garlic cloves, chopped; 1/2 cup dry red wine, such as Syrah; 1 cup canned diced tomatoes; 1/2 cup beef or chicken broth, plus more, as needed; 1 Tbs. honey (optional); 2 cups couscous; 2 Tbs. olive oil; 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric; 1/2 tsp. kosher salt, plus more, to taste; 1/4 cup dried currants; 1 tsp. finely grated orange zest; 2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice; Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Pepper + clovetop 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).
Butternut squash + garlictop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together476 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

Swap the butternut squash

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, olive, onion, carrot, garlic, clove, red wine):

Limefits about as well
Butternut squashthe original
Plumfits about as well
Avocadofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, olive, onion, carrot, garlic, clove, red wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Couscous	1 cup cooked (157g)	176
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Honey	1 tbsp (21g)	64
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Turmeric	1 tsp ground (3g)	9
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Pumpkin	not in our table	0

Moroccan Short Rib Tagine with Spiced Couscous