Name: Porter-Braised Chicken Thighs with Root Vegetables
Ingredients: 2 carrots; 2 red potatoes; 1 celery root, about 14 oz.; 1 large yellow onion; 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, about 3 1/4 lb. total; 2 tsp. kosher salt, plus more, to taste; 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper, plus more, to taste; 2 Tbs. canola oil; 7 Tbs. unsalted butter, at room temperature; 2 bottles porter, each 12 fl. oz.; 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth or stock; 2 Tbs. firmly packed light brown sugar; 2 Tbs. Dijon mustard; 2 tsp. tomato paste; 1 tsp. dried thyme; 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

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).
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + potatotop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,107 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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 (carrot, potato, onion, chicken, pepper, canola oil, butter):

Garlicfits better
Thymefits better
Parsleyfits better
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, potato, onion, chicken, pepper, canola oil, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Porter-Braised Chicken Thighs with Root Vegetables