Name: Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Cranberries with Barley
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 1 pound Brussels sprouts, tips cut off, discolored leaves removed and sliced in half (smaller sprouts are better than large sprouts); 1 tablespoon olive oil; Salt; 2/3 cup fresh cranberries (or 1/3 cup dried cranberries); 1/3 cup crumbled Gorgonzola or goat cheese; 1/3 cup freshly toasted pecans; 1 1/2 cups cooked barley, reheated (see instructions above); 1 tablespoon maple syrup, or more to taste; 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, or more to taste

Why it works: Brussels sprouts and barley work together. They rank in the top 75% of all ingredient pairs. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 2

Ingredients

Contains: milk, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

1 pound Brussels sprouts, tips cut off, discolored leaves removed and sliced in half (smaller sprouts are better than large sprouts)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt
2/3 cup fresh cranberries (or 1/3 cup dried cranberries)
1/3 cup crumbled Gorgonzola or goat cheese
1/3 cup freshly toasted pecans
1 1/2 cups cooked barley, reheated (see instructions above)
1 tablespoon maple syrup, or more to taste
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, or more to taste

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By cookieandkate. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

Brussels sprouts + barleytop 75% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together0 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Olive + goat cheesetop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together557 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
Goat cheese + pecanstop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together40 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Pecans + maple syruptop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together274 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Olive + vinegartop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together10,843 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the pecans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brussels sprouts, olive, goat cheese, barley, maple syrup, vinegar):

Walnutbetter flavor fit
Beansabout as good a flavor fit
Pecansthe original
Sesameabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against brussels sprouts, olive, goat cheese, barley, maple syrup, vinegar. 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).

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