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Gel's Green Beans and Beef

"This is my version of a favorite recipe my mom used to make for me."

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Why it works: Beef and green beans work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 35 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

The recipe

4 serving
Prep15 min
Cook20 min

Ingredients

Contains: wheat, soy (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. Brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat, breaking it up, until no pink remains and it reaches 160°F (71°C), about 6 minutes.

  2. Drain off excess fat, then stir in the ground ginger, minced garlic, onion powder and ground black pepper. Cook 1 minute until fragrant.

  3. Whisk the soy sauce, honey, all-purpose flour and water in a small bowl until smooth.

  4. Pour the sauce over the beef and stir well. Simmer over medium heat 2 minutes until slightly thickened.

  5. Add the trimmed green beans to the skillet and toss to coat. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender-crisp, about 8 minutes.

  6. Taste, adjust seasoning if needed, and 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. Beef + green beanstop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together35 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29,030 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Beef + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,091 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Ginger + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together6,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Beef + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, garlic, onion, pepper, sauce, honey, green beans):

  1. Gingerthe original
  2. Thymeabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Rosemaryabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Celeryabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, garlic, onion, pepper, sauce, honey, green beans. 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).