Ikra Ovoshchnaia

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.

1. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

2. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together10,173 recipes

   Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

3. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together29,058 recipes

   Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

4. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together6,810 recipes

   Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

5. Eggplant + garlictop 1% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together801 recipes

   Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggplant

Becomes soft and tender, forming the body of the stew as it cooks down.

Tomatoes

Cook down into a sauce that provides moisture, acidity and the base flavour.

Onion

Softens and sweetens as it cooks, adding savoury depth to the stew.

Carrot

Adds sweetness and a softer, rounded texture when finely chopped and cooked.

Garlic

Adds pungent aroma that mellows as it cooks into the stew.

The step that matters

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (eggplant, carrot, onion, celery, tomato, garlic, parsley):

1. Cuminfits better
2. Oreganofits better
3. Thymefits better
4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against eggplant, carrot, onion, celery, tomato, garlic, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.