Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Glazed Carrots
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the young red carrots into round balls.
Boil the carrots in boiling water for 5 minutes, then drain them.
In a stewpan, add the carrots and butter.
Sprinkle castor sugar, pepper, and salt over the carrots.
Add a little good meat gravy and simmer slowly until the carrots are cooked.
Boil rapidly for a few minutes to evaporate most of the gravy, then serve.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
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.
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Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + meattop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Carrot + meattop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,905 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pepper + meattop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,777 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the carrot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, pepper, meat):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Potatofits better
- Carrotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, pepper, meat. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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