Why it works: Fish sauce and papaya work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 22 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 4 to 6Ingredients
Contains: peanut, soy, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →
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.
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Fish sauce + papayatop 7% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together22 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Ginger + limetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,621 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lime + papayatop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together91 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Ginger + papayatop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together49 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Ginger + garlictop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together6,402 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 thai basil
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ginger, garlic, shallot, sugar, fish sauce, lime, beans):
- Corianderbetter flavor fit
- Cuminbetter flavor fit
- Turmericbetter flavor fit
- Thai basilthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against ginger, garlic, shallot, sugar, fish sauce, lime, 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).
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