Name: Braised Beef Short Ribs
Ingredients: 6 large beef short ribs, about 14 to 16 ounces each (if ribs are tinier, buy by weight, not number); 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon thyme leaves, and 4 whole sprigs thyme; 1 tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper; 3 dozen small pearl onions; 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil; 1 cup diced onion; 1/3 cup diced carrot; 1/3 cup diced celery; 2 bay leaves; 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar; 1 1/2 cups port; 2 1/2 cups hearty red wine; 6 cups beef or veal stock; 4 sprigs flat-leaf parsley; 2 bunches Swiss chard, cleaned, center ribs removed; Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper; 3/4 cup créme fraîche; 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish; Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper; 2 pounds potatoes, scrubbed (I used Yukon Golds); 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick, 4 ounces), melted; 1 cup half-and-half , warmed; 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt; Ground black pepper; Chives for garnish (optional)

Why it works: Carrot and celery 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.

Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Thyme + carrottop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,563 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Thyme + celerytop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,193 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,585 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Thyme + olivetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,948 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).

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 (beef, thyme, pepper, olive, carrot, celery, vinegar):

Tomatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Parsnipfits about as well
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, thyme, pepper, olive, carrot, celery, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Chive	1 tbsp (3g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Veal	not in our table	0
Swiss Chard	not in our table	0
Horseradish	not in our table	0

Braised Beef Short Ribs