Name: Farfalle with Tomato Sauce
Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients: 2 Tbsp olive oil; 4 oz Grated Cheese (optional); 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped; 1 small carrot or 1/2 large carrot, finely chopped; 1 small green pepper, diced; 1 clove garlic, minced; 1/2 teaspoon dried basil or 2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil; 1/2 can whole tomatoes, including the juice, or 1 3/4 pound of fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped; 1 tsp tomato paste; Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 29,058 recipes mention both. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Olive + basiltop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together5,063 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Garlic + basiltop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together4,805 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Pepper + basiltop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together5,294 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, cheese, onion, carrot, pepper, garlic, basil):

Thymebetter flavor fit
Parsleybetter flavor fit
Oreganobetter flavor fit
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, cheese, onion, carrot, pepper, garlic, basil. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

Farfalle with Tomato Sauce