Name: Jambalaya with Shrimp, Chicken and Ham
Ingredients: 2 Tbs. unsalted butter; 3 Tbs. olive oil; 12 large shrimp, about 10 oz. total, peeled and deveined; 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, each 4 to 6 oz., cut into; large pieces; 1 yellow onion, finely chopped; 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped; 2 celery stalks, finely chopped; 1 garlic clove, minced; 1 jalapeño chili, minced; 2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped; 1 cup long-grain rice; 2 cups chicken broth; Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste; 6 oz. smoked ham, cut into cubes; 1 tsp. sweet paprika; 1 Tbs. chopped fresh thyme; Pinch of cayenne pepper, or more, 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 + celerytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Chicken + garlictop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,850 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

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

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, olive, shrimp, chicken, onion, pepper, garlic):

Thymefits better
Parsleyfits better
Capersfits about as well
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, olive, shrimp, chicken, onion, pepper, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pork	100g cooked	242
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Shrimp	100g cooked	99
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Celery Stalks	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Jambalaya with Shrimp, Chicken and Ham