Name: Scrumptious Meat Loaf
Ingredients: 1 lb extra-lean ground beef; ½ cup tomato paste; ¼ cup onion; ¼ cup green bell pepper; ¼ cup red bell pepper; 1 cup tomatoes, fresh, blanched, chopped; ½ tsp mustard, low sodium; ¼ tsp black pepper, ground; ½ tsp red chile pepper, ground; 2 cloves garlic, chopped; 2 stalks scallions (green onions), chopped; ½ tsp ginger, ground; ⅛ tsp nutmeg, ground; 1 tsp orange peel (zest), grated; ½ tsp thyme, crushed; ¼ cup bread crumbs, fine, dry

Why it works: Clove and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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.

Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Mustard + garlictop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,053 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

Extra-lean ground beef: Provides the main body of the loaf, with protein that sets as it cooks.
Tomato paste: Adds concentrated tomato flavour, savoury depth and some moisture to the mixture.
Bread crumbs: Absorb juices and help keep the loaf tender rather than dense.
Fresh tomatoes: Add moisture and fresh acidity that brightens the meat.
Garlic: Contributes pungent aroma and savoury flavour that mellows during baking.

Swap the mustard

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

Carrotfits better
Capsicumfits better
Okrafits better
Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, tomato, onion, pepper, clove, garlic, ginger. 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
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Beef	100g cooked	250
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2

Scrumptious Meat Loaf