Name: Spicy Southwestern Black Bean Salsa Recipe
Yield: 5 cups (8 to 10 servings)
Ingredients: 1/4 cup red wine vinegar; 1 medium garlic clove, finely chopped; 1 teaspoon kosher salt; 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin; 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 2 tablespoons canola oil; 2 medium cobs white corn (about 1 pound), shucked; 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed; 2 Pickled Jalapeños - stems removed and finely chopped; 1 medium Roma tomato, seeded and cut into small dice; 3/4 cup red, yellow or orange bell pepper, seeded, white pith removed, and cut into small dice; 1/2 cup white onion, small dice; 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro

Why it works: Garlic and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,082 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. 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.

Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,082 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Clove + cumintop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,306 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Cumin + corntop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together798 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,382 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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 (red wine, vinegar, garlic, cumin, pepper, canola oil, corn):

Oreganofits better
Corianderfits better
Thymefits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against red wine, vinegar, garlic, cumin, pepper, canola oil, corn. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Black Bean	1/2 cup canned (120g) drained	114
Corn	1/2 cup kernels (82g)	77
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Orange Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Spicy Southwestern Black Bean Salsa Recipe