Name: Carrots, with Macaroni and Spinach
Ingredients: 12 small carrots; ½ pound macaroni; spinach; 4 hard-boiled eggs; sauce (to taste); seasoning (to taste)

Why it works: Carrot and spinach match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 870 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Carrots, with Macaroni and Spinach

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

Boil the carrots until tender.
Boil the spinach and shape it into a pyramid in the center of a serving dish.

Arrange the dish

Arrange the boiled carrots upright around the spinach.
Cook the macaroni and place it in little heaps around the carrots.
Slice the hard-boiled eggs into quarters and place them around the spinach.
Pour the sauce from the carrots over the macaroni and eggs, and serve with melted butter.

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 + spinachtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together870 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Spinach + saucetop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together756 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Spinach + eggtop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,323 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Carrot + saucetop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,509 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Carrot + eggtop 35% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,481 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Carrots: Form the main vegetable base and provide sweetness and tender texture when boiled.
Macaroni: Provides starchy bulk that soaks up the sauce and gives the dish body.
Hard-boiled eggs: Add rich, firm protein that contrasts with the soft vegetables and pasta.
Spinach: Forms the central mound and adds a mild, earthy flavour and soft texture.