Name: Vegetarian Roast Dinner
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients: Nut roast; 1 Large onion, chopped; 1 Large leek, chopped; 2 celery sticks, chopped; 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 175g mushrooms, Sliced; 3tbsp Olive oil; 1tbsp Thyme; Handful fresh parsley, roughly chopped; Handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped; 250g tofu, in tiny cubes; 70g Bread crumbs; 150g mixed nuts; 1tsp dried coriander; 1tsp dried parsley; Generous glug soya sauce; Juice of 1/2 lemon; Salt and pepper to taste; Gravy; 1tbsp Oil; 1 medium red onion, finely chopped; 2tbsp Cornflour; 2tsp Marmite; 350ml Boiling water; Herbs, to taste; Salt and pepper to taste; Splash of red wine; Roast Potatoes; 3.5kg Large Potatoes, cut into quarters, peeled.; Enough water to cover them

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. 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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Leek + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together360 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,108 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Celery + thymetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,193 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, leek, celery, garlic, mushroom, olive, thyme):

Parsleyfits better
Marjoramfits better
Winter savoryfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, leek, celery, garlic, mushroom, olive, thyme. 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
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Tofu	100g firm	76
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Nut	not in our table	0
Coriander	not in our table	0
Mixed Nuts	not in our table	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0
Sunflower Oil	not in our table	0
Beetroot	not in our table	0

Vegetarian Roast Dinner