Name: Bucatini all’Amatriciana with Smoked Mozzarella Meatballs
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 6 ounces, weight FOR THE SAUCE:; 1 whole Thick Cut Bacon, Diced; 2 cloves Yellow Onion, Chopped; 1 can Garlic, Minced; 1 pinch 28-ounce Can Diced Tomatoes; 1 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes; ¼ teaspoons Kosher Salt; 1 cup Freshly Ground Black Pepper; ½ cups FOR THE MEATBALLS:; ⅓ cups Grated Parmesan Cheese; 2 whole Chopped Flat Leaf Parsley; ½ whole Plain Bread Crumbs; 2 cloves Eggs; 1 teaspoon Yellow Onion, Minced; ½ teaspoons Garlic, Minced; 1 pinch Kosher Salt; 8 ounces, weight Freshly Ground Black Pepper; 8 ounces, weight Crushed Red Pepper Flakes; 2 ounces, weight Ground Beef; 1 pound Ground Veal

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. 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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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 (sauce, onion, garlic, tomato, pepper, parmesan cheese, parsley):

Basilfits better
Thymefits better
Oreganofits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, onion, garlic, tomato, pepper, parmesan cheese, parsley. 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
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Meatball	not in our table	0
Veal	not in our table	0

Bucatini all’Amatriciana with Smoked Mozzarella Meatballs