Name: Cuban Black Beans and Yellow Rice
Ingredients: 6 slices bacon, diced; 1 cup chopped onion; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1 cup uncooked rice; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric; 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper; 2 cups water; 1 medium fresh tomato, chopped; 1/2 cup chopped green pepper; 1 cup diced fully-cooked ham; 1 cup dried black beans, cooked and well-seasoned

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).
Rice + turmerictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,941 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,876 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Clove + peppertop 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

Bacon: Renders fat into the skillet that cooks the onion and garlic, adding savory flavor.
Rice: Absorbs the water and turmeric as it simmers, becoming tender and forming the body of the dish.
Turmeric: Gives the rice its yellow color and a mild, earthy aroma.
Onion: Softens while cooking, adding sweetness and aromatic depth to the base.
Ham: Adds salty, savory meatiness to the rice.
Black beans: Provide the separate, hearty bean component served in the center of the dish.

The step that matters

Simmer the rice covered, then check tenderness. Rice must simmer covered on low heat so it absorbs the liquid evenly and cooks through. Lifting the lid releases steam and can leave grains firm or the bottom scorched.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, garlic, rice, turmeric, pepper, tomato, ham):

Cuminfits better
Corianderfits better
Thymefits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, garlic, rice, turmeric, pepper, tomato, ham. 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
Pork	100g cooked	242
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Black Bean	1/2 cup canned (120g) drained	114
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Turmeric	1 tsp ground (3g)	9
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

Cuban Black Beans and Yellow Rice