Name: Poached Eggs on Creamy Grits Recipe
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons unsalted butter; 1/2 teaspoon salt or more to taste; 1 cup stone-ground grits, not instant or quick-cooking; 2 cups whole milk, half-and-half, or a combination; 2 tablespoons vegetable oil; 1 to 2 teaspoons bacon drippings, optional; 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour; 1 medium onion, chopped; 1 small green bell pepper, chopped; 1/4 cup minced celery; 2 plump garlic cloves, minced; 1 cup chicken stock or water; 1 cup chopped canned tomatoes with juice; 1 bay leaf; 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme; Pinch or two of cayenne pepper; Salt and freshly milled black pepper to taste; 1 tablespoon white vinegar; 4 to 8 large eggs; Salt and freshly milled black pepper to taste

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).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Celery + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,668 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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 (butter, milk, flour, onion, pepper, celery, garlic):

Parsleyfits better
Thymefits better
Turmericfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, flour, onion, pepper, celery, garlic. 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
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
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
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Dripping	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

Poached Eggs on Creamy Grits Recipe