Why it works: Bonito and tofu work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 13 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: soy (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.
-
Bonito + tofutop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together13 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Miso + tofutop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together75 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
-
Shiitake + tofutop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together58 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
-
Kombu + tofutop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together11 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Miso + shiitaketop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together25 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the seaweed
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (kombu, bonito, miso, sake, mushroom, shiitake, tofu):
- Welsh onionbetter flavor fit
- Onionbetter flavor fit
- Spinachbetter flavor fit
- Seaweedthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against kombu, bonito, miso, sake, mushroom, shiitake, tofu. 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).
The Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.