Name: Beef Milanese with Winter Slaw
Yield: Makes 4 servings
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice; 1 teaspoon honey; 1/4 head of red cabbage, cored, thinly sliced (about 2 cups); 1 carrot, peeled, cut into matchstick-size pieces (about 1/2 cup); 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion; 1/4 cup small dill fronds; Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper; 4 2-ounce slices beef top round or sirloin, pounded to 1/8" thickness; 1 cup all-purpose flour; 2 large eggs, beaten to blend; 1 cup plain dried breadcrumbs; Vegetable oil; Lemon wedges

Why it works: Lemon and dill match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 976 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

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.

Lemon + dilltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together976 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Carrot + dilltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together321 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Dill + peppertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,630 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cabbage + dilltop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together47 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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, honey, cabbage, carrot, dill, pepper, beef):

Parsnipfits better
Capsicumfits better
Broccolifits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, honey, cabbage, carrot, dill, pepper, beef. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Beef	100g cooked	250
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Honey	1 tbsp (21g)	64
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Red Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Dill	5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Beef Milanese with Winter Slaw