Name: Pork Rib Ragù with Polenta
Ingredients: 2 Tbs. vegetable oil; 3 lb. meaty pork spareribs, cut into individual ribs; Fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste; 1 large carrot, peeled and finely chopped; 1 yellow onion, finely chopped; 1 celery stalk, finely chopped; 1 garlic clove, crushed flat but left whole; 3/4 cup dry red wine; 1 can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes; 1 bay leaf; 6 to 7 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade, or water; 1 tsp. fine sea salt (optional); 1 1/2 cups polenta; 3 Tbs. unsalted butter, at room temperature; Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for serving

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).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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).
Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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 (pork, pepper, carrot, onion, celery, clove, red wine):

Thymefits better
Marjoramfits better
Parsleyfits better
Garlicthe original

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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pork	100g cooked	242
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

Pork Rib Ragù with Polenta