Name: Cooking for One: Winter to Spring Pantry Pasta
Ingredients: 3 slices bacon; 1/4 cup white wine; 1/2lb fresh fettuccine; 2 tbsp finely chopped chives; 1/2 lemon, juiced; 1/4 cup grated pecorino; 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes; 1/4 tsp salt

Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Cooking for One: Winter to Spring Pantry Pasta

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

89Calories

4 gProtein

4 gFat

6 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 6 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Chives	1 tbsp (3g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By biggirlssmallkitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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 + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Chive + lemontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,122 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
White wine + lemontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,832 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Chive + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,885 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
White wine + peppertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,433 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

Swap the chive

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (white wine, lemon, pepper):

Capsicumfits better
Shallotfits better
Spinachfits better
Chivethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, lemon, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.