Name: Sour-krout Cooked
Ingredients: one ounce of butter; two ounces of butter; one tablespoon butter; half pint of milk; two tablespoons of hot bechamel sauce; half cup of macaroni; two tablespoon fuls of grated cheese; a quart of cold water; a piece of pork that has been in brine three days; a cupful of spinach prepared as; a pint of cooked lima beans; a pinch of salt; a piece of bread browns as soon as dropped; a piece of butter on each half; one yolk of an tgg; three eggs lightly into; half full; six medium sized ears; six green tomatos; half dozen tomatos in halves; one part parmesan cheese; two parts bread crumbs; six tomatos; butter the size of a walnut; pepper; salt; paprika

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. 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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,130 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,426 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Sour kraut (in the method): Forms the main body of the dish and carries its sour flavour as it simmers.
Pork: Slowly flavours the kraut as it simmers, and is served as the centrepiece.

The step that matters

Keeping the wurst hot without boiling. Boiling wurst can split its casings and make the meat tough and dry, so it should be held just below a simmer until hot through.

Swap the spinach

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, milk, sauce, cheese, pork, lima beans, bread):

Potatofits better
Tomatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Spinachthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, sauce, cheese, pork, lima beans, bread. 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
Pork	100g cooked	242
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Lima Bean	1/2 cup (85g) cooked	108
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Walnut	1 walnut half (4g)	26
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Spinach	1 cup raw (30g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Macaroni	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

Sour-krout Cooked