Name: Curried Cornish Hens with Spiced Confetti Couscous
Ingredients: 4 tsp. Madras curry powder; 8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room; temperature; 1 tsp. grated orange zest; Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste; 8 Cornish hens, each 1 lb.; 8 yellow onion wedges; 8 whole cloves; 8 peeled fresh ginger slices; 8 orange zest strips, each about 2 inches long; 8 garlic cloves, lightly crushed; 8 bay leaves; 4 cups chicken broth; 1 cinnamon stick; 1 orange zest strip, 2 inches long and 1/2 inch; wide; 1 peeled fresh ginger slice; Salt, to taste; 2 cups couscous; 4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter; 1 cup chopped sweet onion, such as Vidalia; 1 cup peeled and diced carrot; 1 cup English peas; 1/2 cup dried currants; 1 garlic clove, finely chopped; 1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Why it works: Clove and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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.

Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Orange + gingertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,833 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Orange + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,987 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 orange

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

Limefits better
Lemonfits better
Avocadofits better
Orangethe original

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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Couscous	1 cup cooked (157g)	176
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Pea	1/2 cup (72g)	62
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Turmeric	1 tsp ground (3g)	9
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Almond	1 almond (1.2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Curried Cornish Hens with Spiced Confetti Couscous