Name: Sausage & Noodle Stir-fry
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients: 12 good-quality sausages; 250g thick or medium egg noodles; 4 tbsp soy sauce; 2 tbsp clear honey; juice 1 large orange; 2 tbsp groundnut or vegetable oil; 2 garlic cloves , crushed; finger-length piece fresh root ginger , peeled and finely chopped; 2 red chillies , deseeded and finely chopped; 4 large carrots , cut into matchsticks; 2 red peppers , deseeded and thinly sliced; 1 yellow pepper , deseeded and thinly sliced; 200g pack sugar snap peas; 1 bunch spring onions , shredded lengthways; 2 tbsp sesame seeds , toasted

Why it works: Clove and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 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.

Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,377 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Orange + gingertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,833 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Clove + carrottop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,873 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Orange + carrottop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together737 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 garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sauce, honey, orange, clove, ginger, carrot):

Cinnamonfits better
Cardamomfits better
Allspicefits better
Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sauce, honey, orange, clove, ginger, carrot. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Sausage	100g cooked	301
Sesame	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Honey	1 tbsp (21g)	64
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2

Sausage & Noodle Stir-fry