Name: Braised Short Ribs with Potatoes and Apples "Risotto Style"
Yield: Makes 6 servings
Ingredients: 6 (10-ounce) bone-in beef short ribs; 1 teaspoon fine sea salt; 1/2 cup olive oil; 3 medium onions, cut into large dice; 1 head garlic, peeled and cloves left whole; 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into large dice; 3 medium celery stalks, cut into large dice; 2 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into large dice; 2 cups dry red wine; 8 ounces strained tomato purée; 10 cups chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth; 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 4 whole dried bay leaves; 2 large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into small dice; 2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into small dice; 2 tablespoons unsalted butter; 1 medium onion, cut into small dice; 4 cloves garlic, minced; 1/2 cup crisp, dry white wine; 1/2 cup chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth; 2 ounces Parmesan cheese, finely grated (about 1/2 cup); Juice of 1/2 lemon; 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt; 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

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).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Clove + carrottop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,873 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, olive, onion, garlic, clove, carrot, celery):

Avocadofits better
Limefits better
Lemonfits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, olive, onion, garlic, clove, carrot, celery. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Celery Stalks	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Braised Short Ribs with Potatoes and Apples "Risotto Style"