Name: Mrs. Waterman's Stuffed Mushrooms
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients: 20 to 24 large white mushrooms, wiped clean with a damp paper towel, stems removed and finely chopped; 1 small onion, finely chopped; ½ green pepper, finely chopped; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 3 tablespoons unsalted butter; ¾ cup crushed Ritz crackers; ½ cup finely chopped pepperoni; ½ cup grated Romano cheese; 1 tablespoon dried parsley; 1 teaspoon dried oregano; 1 teaspoon seasoned salt; ¼ teaspoon black pepper

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).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,700 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, onion, pepper, garlic, butter, romano cheese, parsley):

Thymefits better
Oreganofits better
Marjoramfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, onion, pepper, garlic, butter, romano cheese, parsley. 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
Romano Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Oregano	1 tsp dried (1.8g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Mrs. Waterman's Stuffed Mushrooms