Name: Beef and Noodles Over Skin-On Mashed Potatoes
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 40 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 pound boneless beef round steak or chuck roast; 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour; 2 tablespoons vegetable oil; 1/3 cup chopped onion; 1/3 cup chopped carrot; 1/3 cup sliced celery; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 2 (14.5 ounce) cans beef broth; 1 teaspoon dried oregano or basil; 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper; 8 ounces frozen egg noodles; Skin-On Mashed Potatoes:; 1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, scrubbed and quartered; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/4 cup milk; 2 tablespoons butter; 1/3 cup sour cream; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

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).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Garlic + oreganotop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,756 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Clove + oreganotop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together556 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Carrot + oreganotop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together536 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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 (beef, flour, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, oregano):

Cuminfits better
Parsleyfits better
Thymefits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, flour, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, oregano. 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
Beef	100g cooked	250
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Oregano	1 tsp dried (1.8g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Beef and Noodles Over Skin-On Mashed Potatoes