Name: Carrots
Ingredients: carrots; coarse sea salt; olive oil; vinegar; cumin; ground cumin seeds

Why it works: Carrot and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 777 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

Carrots

Ingredients

Directions

Wash and peel the carrots.
Cut them into desired shapes.
In a bowl, mix the carrots with coarse sea salt, olive oil, and vinegar to taste.
Alternatively, boil the carrots in a stewpan over low heat with cumin and a little olive oil.
Before serving, sprinkle with ground cumin seeds.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Carrot + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together777 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Olive + cumintop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,853 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Carrot + olivetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,861 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,297 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Vinegar + cumintop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together923 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).