Skip to main content

Meatless "Meatloaf" Recipe

For twenty-four years I was a raging carnivore-until I decided to train for the marathon. I decided to give vegetarianism (or pesco-vegetarianism, rather) a...

By chow · From Open Recipes · 22 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Basil and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 5,292 recipes mention both. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 3-5 people

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, soy (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By chow. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Basil + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,292 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  2. Basil + carrottop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,112 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  3. Pepper + carrottop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Basil + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together4,805 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Butter + cheesetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together7,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (basil, pepper, butter, carrot, cheese, corn, egg):

  1. Parsleybetter flavor fit
  2. Thymebetter flavor fit
  3. Marjorambetter flavor fit
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against basil, pepper, butter, carrot, cheese, corn, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).