Name: Cheddar Beans and Rice
Ingredients: 1 cup chopped onion; 1 cup sliced celery; 1 clove garlic, minced; 1 tablespoon polyunsaturated margarine; 1 cup dried black beans, cooked and well seasoned; 3 cups hot cooked brown or white rice; 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese; 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

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 ↓

Cheddar Beans and Rice

Ingredients

1 cup chopped onion
1 cup sliced celery
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon polyunsaturated margarine
1 cup dried black beans, cooked and well seasoned
3 cups hot cooked brown or white rice
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Make the bean mixture

Cook onion, celery and garlic in margarine until tender.
Stir in beans; heat thoroughly.

Serve

Serve bean mixture over fluffy rice.
Top with cheese.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

590Calories

21 gProtein

22 gFat

78 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 8 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Black Bean	1/2 cup canned (120g) drained	114
Cheddar Cheese	1 oz (28g)	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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).
Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,810 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Beans + ricetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,017 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Garlic + beanstop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,935 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Black beans: Provide the main body and protein of the dish, soaking up the seasoned flavour.
Cheddar cheese: Melts over the hot beans and rice, adding richness and savoury flavour.
Rice: Forms the base that soaks up the bean mixture and gives the dish its bulk.
Onion: Softens and sweetens as it cooks, building the flavour base.
Margarine: Fat that cooks the vegetables and carries their flavour through the dish.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, celery, garlic, beans, rice, cheddar cheese, parsley):

Cuminfits better
Thymefits better
Turmericfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, celery, garlic, beans, rice, cheddar cheese, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.