Name: Jamie Oliver Meatballs
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary; 12 Jacobs cream crackers; 2 heaped teaspoons Dijon mustard; 500g good-quality minced beef, pork, or a mixture of the two; 1 heaped tablespoon dried oregano; 1 large egg, preferably free-range or organic; sea salt and freshly ground black pepper; olive oil; a bunch of fresh basil; 1 medium onion; 2 cloves of garlic; half a fresh or dried red chilli; 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes; 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar; 400g dried spaghetti or penne; Parmesan cheese, for grating

Why it works: Rosemary and oregano match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 344 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.

Rosemary + oreganotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together344 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Rosemary + olivetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,590 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Rosemary + peppertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,324 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Oregano + olivetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,443 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Oregano + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,449 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rosemary, cream, beef, oregano, egg, pepper, olive):

Tomatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Spinachfits better
Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rosemary, cream, beef, oregano, egg, pepper, olive. 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
Beef	100g cooked	250
Pork	100g cooked	242
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Oregano	1 tsp dried (1.8g)	5
Rosemary	1 tsp dried (1.2g)	4
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Jamie Oliver Meatballs