Name: Almost Cheddar Fondue
Ingredients: 2 3/4 cups water; 1 cup chopped red pepper; 1/2 cup raw cashews, finely ground; 1/3 cup quick oats; 1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes; 4 tbsp arrowroot powder or cornstarch; 3 tbsp lemon juice; 1 tbsp tahini; 1 tbsp onion powder; 1 tsp sea salt; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1/2 tsp mustard powder; 1/4 tsp Tabasco or other hot sauce; 1/4 tsp nutmeg; 1/4 tsp paprika

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).
Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together553 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together121 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Cashews: Provide creamy body and richness, giving the fondue its cheese-like texture.
Arrowroot powder or cornstarch: Thickens the mixture as it heats, setting it into a smooth, glossy sauce.
Nutritional yeast flakes: Add savory, cheese-like flavor to the sauce.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the richness.
Quick oats: Add body and help thicken the sauce as it is processed and cooked.

The step that matters

Cook over low heat after boiling. Starch thickeners such as arrowroot or cornstarch swell and set when heated, but scorch or clump if the heat is too high. Reducing to low and stirring keeps the sauce smooth while it thickens.

Swap the tahini

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, oats, arrowroot, lemon, onion, clove, garlic):

Lentilsfits better
Cashew nutfits better
Chickpeafits better
Tahinithe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, oats, arrowroot, lemon, onion, clove, garlic. 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
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Cashew	1 oz (28g / ~18 nuts)	157
Oat	1/2 cup dry (40g)	154
Tahini	1 tbsp (15g)	89
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0
Arrowroot	not in our table	0

Almost Cheddar Fondue