Name: Black Pepper & Mustard Braised Short Ribs
Ingredients: 2 Tbs. brown mustard seeds; 2 Tbs. yellow mustard seeds; 2 Tbs. peppercorns; 2 tsp. salt; 5 lb. bone-in beef short ribs; 3 Tbs. vegetable oil; 1/4 cup bourbon; 2 large yellow onions, diced; 2 celery stalks, diced; 2 carrots, peeled and diced; 4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed; 2 Tbs. beef demi-glace; 3 Tbs. honey; 3 cups beef stock; 2 Tbs. red wine vinegar; 1 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley; Buttered long-grain rice for serving

Why it works: Celery and carrot 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.

Celery + carrottop 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).
Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,873 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,053 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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 (mustard, beef, onion, celery, carrot, garlic, honey):

Thymefits better
Cuminfits better
Parsleyfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mustard, beef, onion, celery, carrot, garlic, honey. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Honey	1 tbsp (21g)	64
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Celery Stalks	1 stalk (40g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Seed	not in our table	0

Black Pepper & Mustard Braised Short Ribs