Name: Mutton Broth with Leeks
Ingredients: 1 bunch of leeks; 2 young carrots, sliced; 1 bunch of chopped parsley; 4 cups mutton stock

Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Mutton Broth with Leeks

Ingredients

1 bunch of leeks
2 young carrots, sliced
1 bunch of chopped parsley
4 cups mutton stock

Directions

Prepare

Prepare the leeks by trimming and washing them.
Slice the carrots into rings.

Make the broth

In a pot, combine the mutton stock, leeks, carrots, and parsley.
Simmer the mixture until the vegetables are tender.
Thicken the broth if desired, then serve hot.

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.

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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Leek + carrottop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,310 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Leek + parsleytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together759 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Leek + muttontop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together226 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Carrot + muttontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,878 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Leeks: Add mild onion-like sweetness and a soft texture once simmered.
Carrots: Contribute natural sweetness and body as they soften in the broth.
Mutton stock: Forms the liquid base and carries most of the savory flavor of the broth.