Name: Shrimp and Sausage Jambalaya
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil; 1 pound sausage, kielbasa or andouille, sliced; 1 pound smoked ham, cubed; 1 tablespoon butter; 1 medium onion, diced; 1 cup diced celery; 1 green bell pepper, cored and diced; 1 red bell pepper, cored and diced; 1 cup seeded and diced tomato; 3 garlic cloves, minced; 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced OR ½ teaspoon cayenne; 2 teaspoons diced fresh oregano; 1 teaspoon diced fresh thyme; 2 tablespoons tomato paste; 6 cups chicken stock; 3 cups long-grain rice, rinsed; 3 bay leaves; 2 teaspoons coarse salt; 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 6 to 8 dashes hot sauce, optional; ½ cup chopped scallions, divided; ¾ cup chopped fresh parsley, divided; ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice; 1 pound medium shrimp, deveined (20 to 24 count)

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 + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,377 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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 (olive, ham, butter, onion, pepper, tomato, garlic):

Thymefits better
Parsleyfits better
Basilfits about as well
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, ham, butter, onion, pepper, tomato, 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
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Cayenne	1 tsp (1.8g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Oregano	1 tsp dried (1.8g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Shrimp and Sausage Jambalaya