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Korean Spicy Marinated Pork

"This spicy Korean pork is very good served with rice, kimchi, and salad."

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Why it works: Garlic and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 7,155 recipes mention both. Both carry 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine, which smells roasted, nutty. The science ↓

The recipe

8 servings
Prep45 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Contains: 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. In a bowl, whisk the rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, gochujang, minced garlic, minced ginger, red pepper flakes, black pepper and white sugar until smooth.

  2. Place the pork slices in a large bowl or sealable bag, pour over the marinade and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, up to overnight.

  3. Heat the canola oil in a large skillet or grill pan over medium-high heat until shimmering.

  4. Add the pork in batches in a single layer, shaking off excess marinade. Cook 2 to 3 minutes per side until caramelized at the edges.

  5. Cook until the thickest slices reach 145°F (63°C) inside, then transfer to a plate and rest for 3 minutes.

  6. Add the onion rings and green onion pieces to the pan and stir-fry for 2 minutes until just softened.

  7. Return the pork to the pan, toss with the vegetables and cook 1 minute more to heat through, then 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. Garlic + porktop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together7,155 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  2. Gochujang + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together42 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Garlic + gingertop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together6,402 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + gingertop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together6,799 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + garlictop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together27,044 recipes

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

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

Flavor stand-ins for the gochujang

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice wine, vinegar, sauce, pepper, garlic, ginger, sugar):

  1. Corianderbetter flavor fit
  2. Peppermintbetter flavor fit
  3. Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
  4. Gochujangthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice wine, vinegar, sauce, pepper, garlic, ginger, sugar. 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).