Name: Sirloin with Spiced Butter, Shallot Salad, Roasted Carrots & Mash
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients: 140g baby carrots , washed; 50g butter; 300-350g/11oz-12oz sirloin steak; 75g soft butter; 1 tbsp anchovies (from a sustainable source), chopped; 1 tbsp capers , drained and chopped; 1 shallot , chopped; 2 tbsp smoked paprika; 2 large baking potatoes , peeled and chopped; 2 tbsp butter; 75ml double cream; bunch parsley , roughly chopped; 3 shallots , sliced; 3 tbsp olive oil; 2 tbsp red wine vinegar; 1 tsp Dijon mustard

Why it works: Capers and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 405 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. 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.

Capers + shallottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together405 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Capers + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,550 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,737 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Capers + olivetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,688 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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, capers, shallot, potato, cream, parsley, olive):

Chivefits better
Kalefits better
Welsh onionfits better
Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, capers, shallot, potato, cream, parsley, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Shallot	1 tbsp minced (10g)	7
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Capers	1 tbsp (9g) drained	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1

Sirloin with Spiced Butter, Shallot Salad, Roasted Carrots & Mash