Name: Green Corn Ragout
Ingredients: 1 pound fresh pork, cut into 1-inch pieces; 6 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and sliced; kernels from 6 ears of corn; boiling water; coarse sea salt, to taste; black pepper, to taste; sweet red pepper, to taste

Why it works: Tomato and corn match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,099 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Green Corn Ragout

Ingredients

1 pound fresh pork, cut into 1-inch pieces
6 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and sliced
kernels from 6 ears of corn
boiling water
coarse sea salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste
sweet red pepper, to taste

Directions

In a saucepan, fry the pork pieces until browned.
Add the sliced tomatoes and corn kernels.
Cover with boiling water and season with salt, black pepper, and sweet red pepper.
Cook slowly for 30 minutes.
Serve hot with toast or fried bread.

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.

Tomato + corntop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,099 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pork + corntop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,069 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pork + tomatotop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,843 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,324 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Pork: Browning in the pan builds savory flavor that carries through the whole ragout.
Tomatoes: Their juices and acidity form the liquid base and add brightness to the stew.
Corn kernels: Release their natural sweetness into the stew as they simmer.