Name: Creole Jambalaya
Ingredients: 1 pound smoked pork sausage or ham, cut into 1/2-inch cubes; 1 cup chopped green bell peppers; 1 cup chopped onion; 1 clove garlic, crushed; 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour; 1 28-ounce can tomatoes; 2 1/2 cups water; 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley; 2 cups uncooked rice; 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce; 2 teaspoons salt; 1/2 teaspoon thyme; 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper; 1 pound peeled, deveined raw shrimp

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 + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Rice: Absorbs the tomato liquid and cooking juices, becoming tender and giving the jambalaya its body.
All-purpose flour: Browned in the drippings to add a toasty, deeper flavor and to thicken the base slightly.
Smoked pork sausage or ham: Releases smoky fat and flavor into the pan that carries through the whole dish.
Tomatoes: Provide acidity and liquid that cooks the rice and gives the dish its red color.
Raw shrimp: Cooks quickly in the simmering liquid, adding sweetness and tender seafood texture.
Onion: Softens and sweetens as it cooks, building the aromatic base of the dish.

The step that matters

Browning the flour. Flour must be stirred slowly in the fat until deeply browned; if it is rushed or burns, it turns bitter, and if it is left pale it will not add the intended toasty depth and thickening.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, pepper, onion, garlic, flour, tomato, parsley):

Thymefits better
Cuminfits better
Oreganofits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, pepper, onion, garlic, flour, tomato, 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Pork	100g cooked	242
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Shrimp	100g cooked	99
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Green Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

Creole Jambalaya