Name: Creamy Garlic Mushrooms
Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients: Ingredients; 200g mushrooms (ordinary white mushrooms are fine for this dish, but you could use a selection of your favourite mushrooms instead); 2 large cloves garlic, skin removed; 2 shallots, skin removed; 1 desertspoon olive oil; 1 small glass of dry white wine (you could also use sherry); 2 tablespoons single or pouring cream; 2 tablespoons finely grated parmesan cheese, or any other hard cheese of your choice; black pepper to taste; toasted granary bread, to serve

Why it works: White wine and sherry match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 307 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. 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.

White wine + sherrytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together307 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Mushroom + shallottop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,982 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Garlic + shallottop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,000 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Clove + shallottop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,677 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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 (mushroom, garlic, shallot, olive, white wine, sherry, cream):

Thymefits better
Capersfits better
Tarragonfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, garlic, shallot, olive, white wine, sherry, cream. 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
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4

Creamy Garlic Mushrooms