Name: Pasta Carbonara
Ingredients: 2 egg yolks; ½ cup of heavy cream; ¾ cups grated parmesan cheese; as much bacon or pancetta as you wish to have; chopped parsley (optional); additional grated parmesan; salt and pepper

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Pasta Carbonara

Ingredients

Directions

Dice your bacon and cook according to desired crispness.
Drain on paper towel. Reserve the bacon grease.
Mix 2 egg yolks with 1/2 cup of heavy cream and 3/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Cook your noodles and strain, reserving some of the starchy water.
Put the noodles back in your saucepan and add a teaspoon or two of the bacon grease to coat the noodles (this prevents the cream sauce from soaking right into the noodles).
Add your egg mixture to the noodles and combine well. I
f the sauce is too thick add a bit of your reserved starchy water. This is all dependent on how you like it.
Mix in your bacon bits right into the sauce and noodles or pile them on top as I did.
Serve it up in a bowl or two and sprinkle with additional parmesan, chopped parsley and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

289Calories

20 gProtein

21 gFat

4 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

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.

Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,322 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Cream + parmesan cheesetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,566 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
Egg + parmesan cheesetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,368 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,765 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

Swap the parsley

The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cream, parmesan cheese, pepper):

Nutmegfits about as well
Celeryfits about as well
Parsleythe original
Tarragonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cream, parmesan cheese, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.