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Vietnamese Flank Steak Salad

Scoring the meat before marinating it allows the flavors to penetrate fully and helps prevent the steak from curling on the grill. Tender rice noodles and a trio of green herbs define this fresh Asian main. If you can find Thai basil, use it here for authentic flavor.

By williamssonoma · From Open Recipes · 20 ingredients
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Vietnamese Flank Steak Salad

Why it works: Ginger and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Vietnamese Flank Steak 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)

633Calories
32 gProtein
43 gFat
32 gCarbs

Counts 18 of 20 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 18 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Sesame1 tbsp (14g)120
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Shallot1 tbsp minced (10g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Lettuce1 cup shredded (36g)5
Romaine Lettuce1 cup shredded (36g)5
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Basil5 leaves fresh (2.5g)1
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Peppermintnot in our table0
Waternot 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. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Sesame + oniontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,192 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  4. Garlic + shallottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,000 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Ginger + sesametop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,531 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ginger, sauce, fish sauce, sesame, garlic, onion, shallot):

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Corianderfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ginger, sauce, fish sauce, sesame, garlic, onion, shallot. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.