Name: Malloreddus with Pork and Pancetta Recipe
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 pound pork shoulder, cut into 1/2-inch cubes; 1/4 pound pancetta, 1/2-inch slices, cut into cubes; 1/2 garlic clove; 1 pinch freshly ground black pepper; 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar; 1/2 cup Terra Saliosa wine (or other dry red wine); 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped; 1 tablespoon tomato paste; 1 sprig myrtle, about 5 to 6 leaves; 1 1/2 cups chicken stock; 1 pound malloreddus pasta; 1/2 cup grated Pecorino Sardo cheese (or other pecorino cheese); 2 tablespoons single-orchard extra virgin olive oil

Why it works: Garlic and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,076 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.

Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,090 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Red wine + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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 (pork, garlic, pepper, red wine, vinegar, wine, tomato):

Thymefits better
Rosemaryfits better
Basilfits about as well
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, garlic, pepper, red wine, vinegar, wine, tomato. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pork	100g cooked	242
Pasta	1 cup cooked (140g)	220
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Myrtle	not in our table	0

Malloreddus with Pork and Pancetta Recipe