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Thai Beef Salad

This dish, popular on Thai restaurant menus, is easy to prepare at home. Fish sauce is essential to creating a salad with authentic flavors. The low-fat vinaigrette and lean meat make it a healthful main-course meal.

By williamssonoma · From Open Recipes · 14 ingredients
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Thai Beef Salad

Why it works: Lime and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,491 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Thai Beef Salad

Serves 4.

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

644Calories
31 gProtein
41 gFat
40 gCarbs

Counts 14 of 17 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 14 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Lettuce1 cup shredded (36g)5
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Basil5 leaves fresh (2.5g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Seednot in our table0
Leafnot in our table0
Peppermintnot in our table0

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

By williamssonoma. 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.

  1. Lime + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,491 recipes

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

  2. Lime + cucumbertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together649 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Cucumber + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,050 recipes

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

  4. Canola oil + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 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 (fish sauce, lime, sugar, pepper, canola oil, butter, cucumber):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Sweet potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

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