Why it works: Pepper and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Glazed Carrots with Consomme
Ingredients
Directions
Over the fire, add powdered sugar, pepper, and salt to the pan.
Moisten the pan with stock as the butter is absorbed.
Cook until the carrots are almost glazed.
Put the glazed carrots into a tureen.
Pour the strained and clarified consomme over the carrots.
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.
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Pepper + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Sugar + carrottop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,211 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,401 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the carrot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits about as well
- Carrotthe original
- Sweet potatofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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