Name: Pebble Bean Chili
Ingredients: 1 cup dried pebble beans, picked over, rinsed, soaked and drained; 1 bay leaf; 2 fresh thyme sprigs; Kosher salt, to taste; 1 lb. boneless chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes; 2 lb. boneless pork butt, cut into 1-inch cubes; Freshly ground pepper, to taste; 1/4 cup canola oil; 2 large yellow onions, diced; 2 green bell peppers, diced; 1 to 2 large jalapeño chilies, cored, seeded and diced; 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 1/3 cup chili seasoning; 2 Tbs. ground cumin; 3 cans (each 14 oz.) diced tomatoes with juices; 1/2 cup dry red wine; 1/2 cup beef stock or water, plus more as needed; Grated cheddar cheese, chopped fresh cilantro, chopped red onion and sour cream for serving

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).
Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,108 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,585 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Thyme + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,608 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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 (beans, thyme, pork, pepper, canola oil, onion, garlic):

Cuminfits better
Marjoramfits better
Oreganofits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, thyme, pork, pepper, canola oil, onion, garlic. 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
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Cheddar Cheese	1 oz (28g)	113
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Red Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Green Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Bean	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

Pebble Bean Chili