Name: Leanburgers with Rocket & Peppers
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients: 50g couscous; 500g extra lean minced beef; 1 small onion , finely chopped; 2 tsp mixed dried herbs; 3 tbsp chopped fresh chives; ¼ tsp hot chilli powder; 6 slices French bread (we used campagne longue, a larger version of a baguette); 6 tsp Dijon mustard; 175g roasted red peppers from a jar, cut into large pieces (choose ones in brine, or rinse them if they're packed in oil); a couple of handfuls of rocket

Why it works: Chive and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 587 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. 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.

Chive + mustardtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together587 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Onion + chivetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,907 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,259 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 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 mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, chive, bread, pepper):

Leekfits better
Potatofits better
Shallotfits better
Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, chive, bread, 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
Beef	100g cooked	250
Couscous	1 cup cooked (157g)	176
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Chives	1 tbsp (3g)	1

Leanburgers with Rocket & Peppers