Name: Garden Burger
Ingredients: 1 med eggplant, sliced crosswise; into six ¾ inch slices.; 1 large bermuda onion, peeled and; sliced into 6 disks; 1 large zucchini squash, sliced; lengthwise into 6 strips; 1 large yellow summer squash, sliced; lengthwise into 6 strips; six ½ inch slices of; beefsteak tomato; marinade; 3/4 cup virgin olive oil; 3 cloves garlic, crushed; 1 tbsp parsley, chopped; 1 tbsp crushed basil; 1 tbsp oregano; 1 tbsp rosemary; 1 tbsp thyme; 6 oz v-8 juice; 1/3 cup herb-flavored wine vinegar; (such as tarragon vinegar); 6 whole wheat pitas or 6; sliced italian rolls; celery salt

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 ↓

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).
Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Eggplant + basiltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together271 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Eggplant + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together801 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Tomato + basiltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,979 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggplant: Its flesh turns soft and creamy when grilled, giving the sandwich body.
Zucchini squash: Grilling softens its flesh and concentrates its mild, sweet flavour.
Yellow summer squash: Grilling softens its flesh and adds mild sweetness and a light char.
Olive oil: Carries the herbs and garlic and keeps the vegetables moist on the grill.
V-8 juice: Adds tomato-based moisture and savoury depth to the marinade.
Herb-flavored wine vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the vegetables and balances the oil.

The step that matters

Grill the vegetables until tender and slightly charred. Grilling over medium-hot coals softens dense vegetables and browns their sugars, adding flavour. Too hot and the outside burns before the centre cooks through; too little heat leaves them tough and watery.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (eggplant, onion, tomato, olive, garlic, parsley, basil):

Oreganofits better
Thymefits better
Cuminfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against eggplant, onion, tomato, olive, garlic, parsley, basil. 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
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Eggplant	1 cup cubed (82g)	35
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Oregano	1 tsp dried (1.8g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Rosemary	1 tsp dried (1.2g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Tarragon	1 tsp dried (0.5g)	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Pumpkin	not in our table	0
Wheat	not in our table	0

Garden Burger

Garden Burger

Ingredients

Directions

Marinate

Grill and assemble

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

Explore the science

The flavor team

What each ingredient does

The step that matters

Swap the clove

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