Why it works: Onion and carrot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Modern Cookery
Ingredients
Directions
Chop the onion and carrot.
Add the chopped onion, carrot, savory herbs, salt, and spice to a pot.
Include 1 pound of neck of veal or beef to enhance the dish.
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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Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Carrot + vealtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Onion + vealtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,841 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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 (carrot, veal):
- Parsnipfits better
- Turnipfits better
- Leekfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, veal. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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