Name: Southwestern Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Cumin Black Beans {Vegetarian}
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 3 tbsp white wine vinegar; 3 tbsp + 1/2 tsp olive oil, divided; 1/2 tsp salt, divided; 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, divided; 4 large portobello mushroom, stems removed; 1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed; 3/4 tsp ground cumin; 3 tbsp minced cilantro + more for garnish; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1/2 red bell pepper, diced; 1 jalapeno pepper, membranes & seeds removed, minced; 1/2 cup cooked corn kernels; 2 oz. queso fresco, crumbled; Salsa (optional); Diced avocado (optional)

Why it works: Beans and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,188 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. 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.

Beans + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,188 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Cumin + clovetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,306 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Olive + beanstop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,470 recipes

Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
White wine + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,765 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

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 (white wine, vinegar, olive, pepper, mushroom, beans, cumin):

Garlicfits better
Thymefits better
Oreganofits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, vinegar, olive, pepper, mushroom, beans, cumin. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Avocado	1 medium (150g)	240
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Black Bean	1/2 cup canned (120g) drained	114
Corn	1/2 cup kernels (82g)	77
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Seed	not in our table	0

Southwestern Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Cumin Black Beans {Vegetarian}