Name: Pumpkin Sausage Mac and Cheese
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: ½ FOR THE SAUCE:; 2 leaves Onion, Peeled; 4 whole Bay Leaves; 6 Tablespoons Cloves; 6 Tablespoons Flour; 3 cups Butter; ¼ teaspoons Milk; 1 cup Nutmeg; ½ cups Freshly Grated Gruyere Cheese; ½ cups Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese; ¼ cups Freshly Grated White Cheddar Cheese; ¼ cups Canned Pumpkin Puree; 1 pinch Pumpkin Beer; 1 pound Truffle Sea Salt; 5 whole FOR ASSEMBLING THE MAC AND CHEESE; 1 dash Kosher Salt, As Needed For The Pasta Water

Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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.

Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,686 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + gruyere cheesetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together323 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, clove, flour, butter, milk, nutmeg, gruyere cheese):

Shallotfits better
Potatofits better
Chivefits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, clove, flour, butter, milk, nutmeg, gruyere cheese. 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
Pasta	1 cup cooked (140g)	220
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Gruyere Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Cheddar Cheese	1 oz (28g)	113
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Beer	1/4 cup (60ml) for cooking	43
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Pumpkin	not in our table	0
Truffle	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

Pumpkin Sausage Mac and Cheese