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Sesame Noodles with Chili Oil and Scallions

Spicy Sichuan pepper, which delivers a numbing effect along with nuanced heat, will leave your lips buzzing in these Sesame Noodles with Chili Oil and Scallions.

By bonappetit · From Open Recipes · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Sesame and tahini match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 142 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓

The recipe

4 servings

Ingredients

Contains: wheat, soy, sesame (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 →

By bonappetit. 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. Sesame + tahinitop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together142 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  2. Sesame + ricetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together643 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  3. Sesame + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,133 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hydroxy-3-butanone (caramel-like, roast).

  4. Rice + turniptop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together821 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Pepper + ricetop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together8,100 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the tahini

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

  1. Beansbetter flavor fit
  2. Peanutbetter flavor fit
  3. Mung beanbetter flavor fit
  4. Tahinithe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, sesame, rice, vinegar, turnip, sauce, 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).