Name: World Recipe Ratatouille
Ingredients: 1 eggplant, diced into 1-inch chunks; 1 green bell pepper, cut into 1-inch squares; 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch squares; 3 zucchini, sliced 1/2-inch thick; 4 tomatoes, cut in 1-inch chunks; 1 large onion, chopped; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1/4 cup dry white wine; 1/2 lemon; 1/4 cup olive oil; 1 tsp. dried thyme or 1 Tbsp. fresh, chopped; 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped or 1 tsp. dried; 2 bay leaves; 1 tsp. salt; 1 tsp. black pepper

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).
Eggplant + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together801 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Eggplant + tomatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together651 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes: Break down into a juicy sauce that gives the stew its body and moisture.
Eggplant: Softens as it cooks and soaks up olive oil, giving a silky, tender texture.
Zucchini: Releases moisture and turns tender, adding softness and mild body to the stew.
Onion: Softens and turns sweet as it cooks, forming a flavor base for the dish.
Garlic: Adds a pungent aroma that mellows and becomes savory during simmering.
Olive oil: Carries aromatics and adds richness, helping the vegetables cook evenly.

The step that matters

Simmer covered until tender, stirring gently. Vegetables keep their shape only if they cook gently. Vigorous stirring or overcooking breaks their cell walls, so they turn mushy and the stew loses its texture.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (eggplant, pepper, tomato, onion, clove, garlic, white wine):

Limefits better
Avocadofits better
Plumfits about as well
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against eggplant, pepper, tomato, onion, clove, garlic, white wine. 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
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Eggplant	1 cup cubed (82g)	35
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

World Recipe Ratatouille