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Dad's Pan-Fried Green Beans

"Once upon a time, Dad received a similar recipe with a bundle of fresh green beans. He made the recipe once and then lost the card. After many attempts to recreate that flavor, he declares that this, his own recipe, is even better!"

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Green beans and sesame share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 25 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓

The recipe

6 servings
Prep10 min
Cook10 min

Ingredients

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

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Whisk together the light soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, white sugar and minced garlic in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves.

  2. Pat the trimmed green beans dry so they will fry rather than steam.

  3. Heat the sesame oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat until shimmering, about 1 minute.

  4. Add the green beans in a single layer and cook without stirring for 2 minutes until blistered in spots.

  5. Toss the beans and cook 4 to 5 minutes more until bright green and tender-crisp.

  6. Pour in the soy sauce mixture and toss for about 1 minute until the beans are glazed and the liquid has reduced.

  7. Serve hot.

By allrecipes. 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. Green beans + sesametop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together25 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  2. Sesame + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,999 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Green beans + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together197 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Vinegar + garlictop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together9,034 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Vinegar + sesametop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,133 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hydroxy-3-butanone (caramel-like, roast).

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 (green beans, sauce, vinegar, sugar, sesame):

  1. Gingerabout as good a flavor fit
  2. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against green beans, sauce, vinegar, sugar, sesame. 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).