Name: Mushroom and Red Wine Meatloaf Recipe
Cook time: 2 h
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons unsalted butter; 1 medium yellow onion , small dice; 8 ounces cremini mushrooms , stems trimmed, cut into medium dice; 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt; 1 medium garlic clove, minced; 3/4 cup dry red wine; 1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme leaves; 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves; 2 large eggs; 12 soda crackers (such as saltines), crushed into oat-sized pieces (about 1/2 cup); 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce; 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper , plus more as needed; 2 pounds ground beef (15 to 20 percent fat content); 1 cup shredded fontina cheese (about 3 ounces)

Why it works: Thyme and rosemary match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,340 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. 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.

Thyme + rosemarytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,340 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,108 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together519 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Garlic + thymetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,608 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, mushroom, garlic, clove, red wine, thyme, rosemary):

Shallotfits better
Tomatofits better
Chivefits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, mushroom, garlic, clove, red wine, thyme, rosemary. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Beef	100g cooked	250
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Rosemary	1 tsp dried (1.2g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Mushroom and Red Wine Meatloaf Recipe