Why it works: Pepper and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Koast Leg of Mutton with Haricot Beans
Ingredients
Directions
Half an hour before the leg is done, place the mutton in the serving dish.
Add the boiled haricot beans to the dish to absorb the fat and gravy.
Season the beans with salt and pepper.
Insert a clove of garlic into the knuckle of the mutton before roasting.
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 + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Beans + garlictop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,935 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,090 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Beans + clovetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together908 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,368 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the beans
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, pepper, clove, garlic):
- Chickpeafits better
- Beansthe original
- Lentilsfits about as well
- Chestnutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, pepper, clove, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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