Name: Spicy Chicken & Cashews
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: ¾ pounds Boneless Chicken Breasts Or Tenderloins; 3 dashes Black Pepper; 3 dashes Seasoning Salt; 2 Tablespoons Low Sodium Soy Sauce; 1 Tablespoon Cooking Sherry; 4 Tablespoons Soy Sauce; 1-½ Tablespoon Cornstarch; 4 teaspoons Sugar; 2 teaspoons White Vinegar; ¼ cups Oil; ½ teaspoons Red Pepper Flakes; 2 cloves Garlic, Minced; ½ cups Salted Cashews; 3 whole Green Onions, diced; 3 dashes Toasted Sesame Seeds

Why it works: Pepper and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 17,451 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

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.

Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Chicken + garlictop 7% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together10,850 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).
Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together27,090 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together11,368 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Vinegar + garlictop 11% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together9,115 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, sauce, sherry, sugar, vinegar, garlic):

Tarragonbetter flavor fit
Thymebetter flavor fit
Gingerbetter flavor fit
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, sauce, sherry, sugar, vinegar, garlic. 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).

Spicy Chicken & Cashews