Name: Cooking for Others: Annie’s All Grown Up
Ingredients: Old Friend, Old Flavors; Phoebe’s Apartment, Flatiron; 2; Casual Weeknight Dinner; All Grown-up White Cheddar Broccoli Mac n’ Cheese; Mixed Greens with Lemon-Basil Vinaigrette; 4 tbsp unsalted butter; 3 tbsp all-purpose flour; 3 cups whole milk; 2 ½ cups shredded sharp cheddar (10oz); 1 tsp salt; ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper; 1 ½ cups finely cut broccoli florets (about 1lb with stems); 1 lb conchiglie (medium shells); 5oz mixed greens; ¼ cup basil leaves; ½ lemon, juiced; 1 tbsp Dijon mustard; ½ tsp honey; 1 tsp white vinegar; ½ tsp salt; ¼ cup olive oil

Why it works: Lemon and basil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,823 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. 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.

Lemon + basiltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,823 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Basil + peppertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,294 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Broccoli + lemontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together809 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

Swap the broccoli

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, lemon, basil, butter, flour, milk, pepper):

Capsicumfits better
Potatofits about as well
Tomatofits about as well
Broccolithe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, lemon, basil, butter, flour, milk, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Cheddar Cheese	1 oz (28g)	113
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Honey	1 tbsp (21g)	64
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Cooking for Others: Annie’s All Grown Up