Name: Vegetable Stir-fry
Ingredients: 1 pound fresh broccoli; 1 teaspoon acceptable margarine; 1 teaspoon acceptable vegetable oil; 1 pound carrots, peeled and thinly sliced; 12 ounces fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced (3½ to 4 cups); 2 to 3 medium green onions, thinly sliced (about ⅓ cup); 2 tablespoons dry sherry; 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice; 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg; 1 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled; pepper to taste

Why it works: Lemon and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,973 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. 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.

Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,973 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,563 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Nutmeg + thymetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,907 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,557 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Broccoli + lemontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together809 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Vegetable oil: Conducts heat evenly and keeps the vegetables from sticking in the pan.
Broccoli: Provides a crisp-tender texture and fresh, green flavor when briefly cooked.
Carrots: Firm texture that softens slightly while keeping a natural sweetness.
Mushrooms: Release moisture as they cook, adding savory body to the stir-fry.
Dry sherry: Adds aromatic depth, and its acidity mellows as the liquid cooks off.
Fresh lemon juice: Adds brightness and acidity that lifts the flavor of the vegetables.

The step that matters

Stir-frying for 5 minutes until tender-crisp. Vegetables cook quickly over direct heat. Stopping at tender-crisp keeps their texture and color, while overcooking breaks down cell walls, leaving them soft and dull.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (broccoli, carrot, mushroom, sherry, lemon, nutmeg, thyme):

Shallotfits better
Spinachfits better
Parsnipfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against broccoli, carrot, mushroom, sherry, lemon, nutmeg, thyme. 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
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Mushrooms	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4

Vegetable Stir-fry