Name: Black Pepper Tofu
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 1 3/4 lbs firm tofu; Vegetable oil for frying; Cornstarch to dust the tofu; 11 tbsp butter; 12 small shallots (12 ounces in total), thinly sliced; 8 fresh red chiles (fairly mild ones), thinly sliced; 12 garlic cloves, crushed; 3 tbsp chopped fresh ginger; 3 tbsp sweet soy sauce (kecap manis); 3 tbsp light soy sauce; 4 tsp dark soy sauce; 2 tbsp sugar; 5 tbsp coarsely crushed black peppercorns (use a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder); 16 small and thin green onions, cut into 1 1/4-inch segments

Why it works: Clove and ginger 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 ↓

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.

Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,000 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Shallot + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,677 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Garlic + gingertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,402 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Shallot + gingertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together565 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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 (tofu, butter, shallot, garlic, ginger, sauce, sugar):

Turmericfits better
Capersfits better
Cinnamonfits better
Clovethe original

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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Tofu	100g firm	76
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2

Black Pepper Tofu