Name: Steak with Chile Key Lime Sauce
Yield: Makes 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 pound skirt steak, cut into pieces; 1/4 cup fresh Key lime juice; 3 tablespoons Asian fish sauce; 3 tablespoons water; 2 tablespoons sugar; 1 large shallot, thinly sliced; 1 fresh serrano chile, chopped (about 2 teaspoons; including seeds); Accompaniment: steamed rice

Why it works: Lime and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 258 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Steak with Chile Key Lime Sauce

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

1 pound skirt steak, cut into pieces
1/4 cup fresh Key lime juice
3 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
1 fresh serrano chile, chopped (about 2 teaspoons; including seeds)
Accompaniment: steamed rice

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

532Calories

32 gProtein

16 gFat

64 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 8 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Shallot	1 tbsp minced (10g)	7
Water	not in our table	0
Seed	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By epicurious. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

Lime + shallottop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together258 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Lime + ricetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,014 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Shallot + ricetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together284 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Lime + fish saucetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together798 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Fish sauce + shallottop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together84 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lime, fish sauce, sugar, rice):

Sweet potatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Cucumberfits about as well
Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lime, fish sauce, sugar, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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