Name: Braised Lamb, Red Lentil Stew and Parsley Salad
Prep time: 30 min
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil; 4 lamb shanks; 1 onion; 3 garlic; 1 stick of celery; 1 carrot; 3 stalks of rosemary; 1 tbsp ras-el-hanout; 200ml/7floz red wine; 1½ litre/2½ pints lamb stock; 1 tbsp olive oil; ½ onion; 2 garlic; ½ carrot; 200g/7oz red lentils; lamb stock; salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1 tbsp chopped parsley; 1 shallot; 2 tbsp white wine vinegar; 110ml/4floz light olive oil; 8 fillets of anchovies; 1 tbsp capers; salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1 small bunch of parsley

Why it works: Celery and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. 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.

Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Olive + rosemarytop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,590 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Garlic + rosemarytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,180 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 (olive, lamb, garlic, celery, carrot, rosemary, red wine):

Tomatofits better
Potatofits better
Eggplantfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, lamb, garlic, celery, carrot, rosemary, red wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Lamb	100g cooked	294
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Lentil	1/2 cup cooked (99g)	115
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Shallot	1 tbsp minced (10g)	7
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Rosemary	1 tsp dried (1.2g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Capers	1 tbsp (9g) drained	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Braised Lamb, Red Lentil Stew and Parsley Salad