Name: Cooking for Others: Know Your Audience, However Large
Ingredients: : Chili Cook-off; : Phoebe’s Apartment, Flatiron; : 18 – 20, mostly male with notable appetites; : Casual Buffet; : Keith’s Spiked Meat-Lover’s Chili (recipe not included; interested parties can beg Keith for it), Phoebe’s Smoky Chipotle Vegetarian Chili, Cornbread, Spinach Salad with Corn, Avocado, and Cilantro Citrus Vinaigrette; : Mexican Wedding Cakes, Cinnamon-Mocha Dulce de Leche Bites (see Cara’s post, below); 2 15.5 oz cans kidney beans; 1 15.5 oz can black beans; 1 15.5 oz can pinto beans; 2 medium zucchini, quartered and sliced; 1 yellow squash; 2 large sweet onions; 1 red pepper; 1 yellow pepper; 1 orange pepper (if unavailable, double up on red); 3 14.5 oz cans fire roasted diced tomatoes (I used Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes in Adobo); ½ quart veggie stock; 1 7oz can mild green chilies; ½ 7oz can whole chipotle peppers in adobo sauce; 2 tablespoons chili powder; 2 tablespoons cumin; 1 tbsp oregano; 3 cloves garlic; 1 bottle dark Mexican beer, Negra Moderno if they have it; 1 bunch cilantro stems (leaves to be used for garnish and salad dressing); Handful cilantro leaves; Shredded Monterey Jack cheese; 2 limes, cut into thin wedges (12 total); Crushed tortilla chips; Diced avocado (not pictured, but a necessary element!)

Why it works: Avocado and beans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 375 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. 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.

Avocado + beanstop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together375 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Kidney beans + beanstop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together364 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Spinach + beanstop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together365 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Spinach + avocadotop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together188 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Corn + beanstop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,211 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

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

Swap the kidney beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, cornbread, spinach, corn, avocado, cinnamon, beans):

Chickpeafits better
Cashew nutfits better
Lentilsfits better
Kidney beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, cornbread, spinach, corn, avocado, cinnamon, beans. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Avocado	1 medium (150g)	240
Tortilla	1 medium flour (45g)	140
Pinto Bean	1/2 cup (86g) canned	122
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Black Bean	1/2 cup canned (120g) drained	114
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Kidney Bean	1/2 cup canned (128g) drained	112
Corn	1/2 cup kernels (82g)	77
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Beer	1/4 cup (60ml) for cooking	43
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Spinach	1 cup raw (30g)	7
Shallot	1 tbsp minced (10g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Oregano	1 tsp dried (1.8g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Cornbread	not in our table	0
Salad	not in our table	0
Citrus	not in our table	0
Cake	not in our table	0
Dulce De Leche	not in our table	0
Pumpkin	not in our table	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Salad Dressing	not in our table	0

Cooking for Others: Know Your Audience, However Large