Name: Butternut Squash Gratin
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 55 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 3 pounds Butternut Squash, Seeds And Skin Removed, Chopped Into 1 Inch Pieces; 4 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter; 2 whole Large Leeks, White And Light Green Parts Only, Chopped; ¾ teaspoons Salt; ½ teaspoons Black Pepper; 2 cloves Garlic, Minced; 2 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour; ½ cups White Wine; ¾ cups Chicken Broth; ½ cups Whole Milk; ½ cups Heavy Cream; 8 slices Day Old Baguette, 1-inch Thick Slices; 6 ounces, weight Manchego Cheese, Grated; 2 ounces, weight Asiago Cheese, Grated; 2 Tablespoons Fresh Basil, Julienned

Why it works: Butternut squash and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 214 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. 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.

Butternut squash + flourtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together214 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Leek + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together150 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Butternut squash + garlictop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together476 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Leek + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together579 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

Swap the butternut squash

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, leek, pepper, clove, garlic, flour, white wine):

Lemonfits about as well
Butternut squashthe original
Plumfits less well
Limefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, leek, pepper, clove, garlic, flour, white wine. 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
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Pumpkin	not in our table	0
Seed	not in our table	0
Manchego	not in our table	0

Butternut Squash Gratin