Name: Spanish-Style Steamed Shellfish
Ingredients: 1/2 cup whole almonds; 3 garlic cloves; 1 slice French bread, torn into pieces; 2 ripe plum tomatoes, halved; 1/3 cup chopped roasted red bell pepper; 1/2 tsp. mild smoked paprika; 2 Tbs. sherry vinegar; 1/2 cup fruity extra-virgin olive oil; Coarse salt, to taste; Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste; 1/2 lb. tender green beans; 9 small new potatoes, halved; 2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks; 2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil; 1/2 lb. Spanish chorizo, sliced; 1 tsp. saffron threads; 1 leek, with tender green tops, chopped; 1 fennel bulb, trimmed, cored and thinly sliced; lengthwise; 2 garlic cloves, chopped; 1 orange zest strip, 3 inches long by 1 inch wide; 2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth; 1 cup dry white wine; 3 frozen lobster tails, each 1/2 lb., thawed and; halved lengthwise; 12 large shrimp in the shell; 18 mussels, green-lipped if available, scrubbed; and debearded; 24 Manila clams, scrubbed; Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley for garnish

Why it works: Garlic and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,076 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.

Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,480 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Almond + plumtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together211 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (garlic, clove, bread, plum, tomato, pepper, sherry):

Chickpeafits better
Beansfits better
Chestnutfits better
Almondthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, clove, bread, plum, tomato, pepper, sherry. 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
Shrimp	100g cooked	99
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Red Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Plum	1 medium (66g)	30
Fennel Bulb	1/2 bulb (87g)	27
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Almond	1 almond (1.2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Saffron	not in our table	0

Spanish-Style Steamed Shellfish