Name: Moros
Ingredients: 8 ounces black turtle beans; 2 to 3 bay leaves; 1 tablespoon dry oregano leaves; ¼ cup olive oil; 8 ounces bacon, finely diced; 1 cup Spanish onion, finely diced; ½ cup diced red bell pepper; ½ cup diced green bell pepper; 2 tablespoons minced garlic; 1 tablespoon ground cumin; 1 tablespoon salt; 3 cups white rice

Why it works: Oregano and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 983 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.

Oregano + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together983 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Beans + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,188 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,082 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Oregano + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,756 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Black turtle beans: Provide the main body and earthy flavor of the dish once cooked until tender.
Bacon: Renders fat that carries flavor through the pot and adds savory, browned depth.
White rice: Absorbs the cooking liquid and bean flavor, setting the final texture of the dish.
Olive oil: Carries heat and flavor for frying the bacon, onion and peppers.
Spanish onion: Softens and sweetens as it cooks, building the base flavor of the sofrito.

The step that matters

Stir constantly with heat on high until most water has evaporated. Stirring over high heat drives off water so the rice does not stay soggy or stick and scorch on the bottom of the pot before the covered oven stage.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, oregano, olive, pepper, garlic, cumin, rice):

Tomatofits better
Eggplantfits better
Spinachfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, oregano, olive, pepper, garlic, cumin, rice. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Red Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Green Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Oregano	1 tsp dried (1.8g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Bean	not in our table	0

Moros

Moros

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the beans

Make the moros

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)