Name: Brown Rice and Mushroom Timbales
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons butter or margarine; 1 cup sliced carrots; 2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms; 3/4 cup sliced green onions; 2 cups cooked brown rice; 2/3 cup chopped pecans; 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley; 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese; Salt and ground black pepper to taste; 1 1/3 cups low-fat milk; 3 eggs, beaten; 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce; Vegetable cooking spray; Cooked chicken (optional)

Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. 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.

Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Carrot + ricetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,477 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter + cheddar cheesetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,436 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

Swap the pecans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, carrot, mushroom, onion, rice, parsley, cheddar cheese):

Beansfits better
Sesamefits better
Chickpeafits better
Pecansthe original

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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Pecans	1 oz (28g / ~19 halves)	196
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Cheddar Cheese	1 oz (28g)	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Mushrooms	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Brown Rice and Mushroom Timbales