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Cantonese-style Steamed Fish with Ginger and Scallion

This is a simple, authentic Chinese dish that you can make with regular items you can get from your local grocery store. It’s the best way to have fish—it’s light, super flavorful and healthy.

By tastykitchen · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients
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Cantonese-style Steamed Fish with Ginger and Scallion

Why it works: Sauce and sugar match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,147 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Cantonese-style Steamed Fish with Ginger and Scallion

Serves 2
Prep5 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

432Calories
22 gProtein
27 gFat
24 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Salmon100g cooked208
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
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 tastykitchen. 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. Sauce + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Ginger + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14,054 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Ginger + saucetop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,409 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ginger and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits about as well
  2. Gingerthe original
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Jalapenofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.