Name: Short Rib Ragù with Pappardelle
Prep time: 30 min
Yield: 4-5 servings
Ingredients: 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil; 3 1/2 to 4 pounds short ribs; Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper; 1 dried bay leaf; 2 sprigs fresh rosemary; 5 sprigs fresh thyme; 2 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley; 4 small carrots, diced; 2 stalks celery, diced; 1 medium onion, diced; 2 medium shallots, diced; 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour; 2 tablespoons tomato paste; 1/2 cup ruby port; 2 cups red wine (I used Cabernet - you want a big red wine for this dish); 1/2 head garlic, cloves separated and peeled; 3 1/2 cups homemade beef stock (I used organic beef broth); 1 pound pappardelle or other long, flat pasta; Chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish (optional); Parmigiano-Reggiano, for garnish (or Pecorino Romano)

Why it works: Rosemary and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,340 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. 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.

Rosemary + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,340 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,057 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Parsley + carrottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,737 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

Swap the parsley

The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, rosemary, thyme, carrot, celery, onion, shallot):

Marjoramfits about as well
Parsleythe original
Winter savoryfits less well
Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, rosemary, thyme, carrot, celery, onion, shallot. 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
Pasta	1 cup cooked (140g)	220
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Rosemary	1 tsp dried (1.2g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Short Rib Ragù with Pappardelle