Name: Recipe Flash: Autumn Pasta Salad
Ingredients: 1 small (2 pound) butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1 inch pieces; One 15-ounce can chickpeas; 2 large shallots, sliced; 1 ½ teaspoons salt; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 2 tablespoons honey; 2 teaspoon fresh nutmeg; 2 pounds Brussels sprouts, cleaned, trimmed, and halved; 1 pound orzo; 2 tablespoons ginger, chopped (about 2 inches); 2 garlic cloves, pushed through a press; 1 shallot, chopped; 1/3 cup walnuts; 1 tablespoon honey; 2 tablespoon Dijon mustard; 1 lime, juiced; 3 tbsp cider vinegar; 1 tsp salt; dash cayenne pepper; ¼ – 1/2 cup olive oil

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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.

Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Butternut squash + chickpeatop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together56 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Butternut squash + shallottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,380 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Butternut squash + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together116 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

Swap the brussels sprouts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butternut squash, chickpea, shallot, cinnamon, honey, nutmeg, ginger):

Sweet potatofits better
Kalefits better
Beetrootfits better
Brussels sproutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butternut squash, chickpea, shallot, cinnamon, honey, nutmeg, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Chickpea	1/2 cup canned (120g) drained	134
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Honey	1 tbsp (21g)	64
Brussels Sprout	1 cup (156g)	56
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Walnut	1 walnut half (4g)	26
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Shallot	1 tbsp minced (10g)	7
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Pumpkin	not in our table	0
Cider	not in our table	0

Recipe Flash: Autumn Pasta Salad