Name: Good Old Lasagne
Yield: 8
Ingredients: olive oil; 4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, finely sliced; 2 red onions, peeled and finely chopped; 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced; 2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped; 250 g mushrooms, cleaned and roughly chopped; 2 sticks of celery, trimmed and finely chopped; ½ a bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked; 250 g quality lean beef mince; 250 g quality lean pork mince; 2 x 400 g tins of chopped tomatoes; 250 ml red wine; sea salt; freshly ground black pepper; a small bunch of fresh basil , leaves picked and stalks finely chopped; dried egg lasagne sheets; ½ a small red onion, peeled and finely sliced; 600 ml semi-skimmed milk; a sprig of fresh parsley; a pinch of nutmeg; 6 black peppercorns; 35 g unsalted butter; 50 g plain flour; 70 g Parmesan cheese, finely grated

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).
Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,108 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,563 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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 (olive, onion, garlic, carrot, mushroom, celery, thyme):

Parsleyfits better
Marjoramfits better
Cuminfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, onion, garlic, carrot, mushroom, celery, thyme. 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
Pork	100g cooked	242
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Red Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Good Old Lasagne

Good Old Lasagne

Ingredients

Directions

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

Explore the science

The flavor team

Swap the clove