Aromatic flavor bases like Mirepoix and Sofrito form the foundational starting point for regional cooking traditions around the world.

• Ingredients: Onion, carrot, and celery.
• Ratio: 2 parts onion, 1 part carrot, and 1 part celery (by weight).
• Cooking Fat: Usually sweated or sautéed in butter.
• Use: Classic French soups, stocks, and sauces.
• See also: Suppengrün, its German counterpart, and Soffritto, its Italian cousin - both built on the same onion-and-root-vegetable trio.

• Ingredients: Carrot, celery root (celeriac), and leek, sometimes with a bit of parsley root.
• Ratio: Roughly equal parts by weight, with leek often used more generously.
• Cooking Fat: Usually simmered directly in the stock or water rather than sautéed first.
• Use: German soups and stocks (Suppe), pot roasts, and long-braised dishes.
• See also: Mirepoix, which swaps celery root and leek for stalk celery and onion, and is typically sautéed before simmering rather than added raw.

• Ingredients: Onion, carrot, and celery, the same trio as mirepoix, often joined by garlic, herbs, or pancetta.
• Ratio: Similar to mirepoix, roughly 2 parts onion to 1 part each carrot and celery, though home cooks vary it freely.
• Cooking Fat: Olive oil, cooked down slowly until soft and lightly caramelized rather than just sweated.
• Use: Italian sauces (ragù), soups, risottos, and braises.
• See also: Mirepoix, its French relative - soffritto is generally cooked longer and more deeply colored.

• Ingredients: Onion and carrot, sometimes joined by tomato or garlic.
• Ratio: Roughly equal parts onion and carrot; tomato, when used, is added in a smaller proportion.
• Cooking Fat: Sautéed in oil or lard until soft and lightly golden.
• Use: The base for Russian and Ukrainian soups like borscht and solyanka, plus many braises.
• See also: Mirepoix, its Western European cousin - zazharka usually skips the celery, staying a duo rather than a full trio.

• Ingredients: Onion, green bell pepper, and celery.
• Ratio: Typically equal parts celery and bell pepper, with 1 to 2 parts onion.
• Cooking Fat: Butter or oil.
• Use: Louisiana gumbos, jambalayas, and étouffées.
• See also: Mirepoix, brought to Louisiana by French Acadian settlers and adapted by swapping in bell pepper for carrot.

• Ingredients: Garlic, onion, bell pepper, and tomato.
• Ratio: Varies by recipe, but heavily features tomato and garlic alongside onion.
• Cooking Fat: Olive oil.
• Use: Spanish paellas, stews, and bean dishes.
• See also: Recaito, its tomato-free, herb-forward Puerto Rican cousin, and Refogado, its Portuguese-Brazilian sibling.

• Ingredients: Onion, garlic, and tomato, sometimes with bell pepper.
• Ratio: Onion and garlic form the base, with tomato added generously once they've softened.
• Cooking Fat: Olive oil or a neutral vegetable oil.
• Use: Brazilian feijoada, rice, and bean dishes.
• See also: Sofrito, which shares nearly the same ingredient list under Spanish colonial influence.

• Ingredients: Green aromatics like culantro (recao), cilantro, garlic, onion, and ajíes dulces or cubanelle peppers.
• Difference from Sofrito: It is bright green because it omits tomatoes, leaning heavily into pungent fresh herbs rather than cooked-down red vegetables.
• Use: Puerto Rican stews, rice, and soups.

• Ingredients: Tomato, red bell pepper (or scotch bonnet for heat), and onion, blended into a smooth base.
• Ratio: Tomato dominates by volume, with onion and pepper providing the aromatic backbone; scotch bonnet is added to taste for heat.
• Cooking Fat: Palm oil or vegetable oil, fried down until the raw tomato taste cooks off and the base darkens.
• Use: The foundation of West African stews and jollof rice, from Nigeria to Ghana and beyond.
• See also: Sofrito and Refogado, distant cousins sharing the same tomato-onion-pepper backbone, though ata/obe developed independently in West Africa.

• Ingredients: Scallion, ginger, and garlic.
• Ratio: No fixed ratio - proportions shift with the dish, and the three are usually minced or sliced separately rather than combined into one base.
• Cooking Fat: Bloomed briefly in hot oil (peanut, vegetable, or sesame) at the very start of cooking.
• Use: The near-universal starting point for Chinese stir-fries, braises, and soups.

• Ingredients: Ginger, garlic, and onion blended into a paste, often paired with a separate tempering (tadka/chaunk) of whole spices, such as mustard seed, cumin, and dried chilies, bloomed in hot oil or ghee.
• Ratio: Ginger and garlic are typically used in equal parts, with onion added more generously as the base of the dish.
• Cooking Fat: Ghee, mustard oil, or a neutral vegetable oil.
• Use: The foundation of most Indian curries, dals, and gravies.
• See also: Rempah, Southeast Asia's pounded-paste counterpart.

• Ingredients: Shallot, garlic, galangal, and lemongrass, frequently pounded with chilies and other spices such as turmeric, candlenut, and shrimp paste into a wet paste.
• Ratio: Varies widely by region and dish, though shallot and garlic usually dominate by volume.
• Cooking Fat: Fried in oil until fragrant and the raw edge cooks off, a step called "menumis."
• Use: The base for curries, sambals, and rendang across Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.
• See also: Ginger-Garlic-Onion Paste, a similar pounded-aromatic approach used in Indian cooking, and Bumbu Dasar, Indonesia's own three-variant base-paste system.

• Ingredients: A shared white base (bumbu dasar putih) of shallot, garlic, candlenut, and ginger, built up further into a red base (bumbu dasar merah) with red chilies, or a yellow base (bumbu dasar kuning) with turmeric.
• Ratio: Shallot and garlic dominate by volume, with candlenut and ginger rounding out the paste; the chili or turmeric addition varies by dish.
• Cooking Fat: Pounded or blended into a paste, then fried in oil until fragrant before the rest of the dish is added.
• Use: Indonesia's mother-paste system - the white, red, and yellow variants are each the starting point for a different family of curries, soups, and stir-fries.
• See also: Rempah, the broader Southeast Asian pounded-paste tradition it belongs to.

• Ingredients: Lemongrass, galangal, garlic, shallot, and chilies, frequently joined by kaffir lime zest, coriander root, and shrimp paste, pounded into a paste.
• Ratio: Varies by curry color - red curry paste leans heavily on dried red chilies, green uses fresh green chilies with a higher herb ratio, and yellow adds turmeric for a milder result.
• Cooking Fat: Fried in oil or coconut cream until fragrant and the paste's color deepens.
• Use: The base for Thai curries (gaeng), plus many stir-fries and soups built on the same paste.
• See also: Rempah and Bumbu Dasar, sharing the same pounded-paste, fried-until-fragrant approach.

• Ingredients: Garlic, onion, and tomato, sautéed together.
• Ratio: Garlic and onion form the base in roughly equal parts, with tomato added more generously once they've softened.
• Cooking Fat: Vegetable oil, sautéed until the onion turns translucent and the tomato breaks down.
• Use: The near-universal starting point for Filipino adobo, sinigang, and countless other ginisang (sautéed) dishes.
• See also: Sofrito and Refogado, sharing the same onion-garlic-tomato lineage carried by Spanish colonial influence, though ginisa reached the Philippines rather than the Americas.

• Ingredients: Garlic and shallot, built on nước màu (sugar cooked down into a dark caramel) and fish sauce, with black pepper.
• Ratio: Garlic and shallot minced generously; the sugar is caramelized on its own first, then fish sauce and pepper are added to taste once the aromatics go in.
• Cooking Fat: Little to none - the sugar is cooked dry, or with just a touch of oil, until deeply caramelized before anything else joins it.
• Use: The base for Vietnamese kho braises - cá kho tộ (caramelized clay-pot fish), thịt kho, tôm kho, and trứng kho - kho meaning "to braise" in this lightly sweet-salty caramel sauce.
• See also: Ginisa, the Philippines' garlic-onion-tomato sauté base - both start from garlic, but kho builds on caramelized sugar and fish sauce rather than tomato.