Why it works: Radish and shrimp work together. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and 34 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 4Ingredients
Contains: fish, shellfish, sesame (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Peel the mouli and cut it into thin matchsticks. Toss with flaked sea salt, let stand 15 minutes, then squeeze out the liquid and set aside.
Halve the white onion and slice it very thinly. Soak in cold water for 5 minutes, then drain and pat dry.
Thinly slice the spring onions on the diagonal.
In a large bowl, whisk together the anchovy sauce, fermented shrimps, sugar, apple vinegar, gochugaru and sesame oil to make a dressing.
Add the drained radish, onion and spring onions to the dressing and toss well until evenly coated.
Scatter the black sesame seeds over the salad. Chill for 10 minutes before serving, or serve straight away.
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.
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Radish + shrimptop 16% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together34 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
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Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,048 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Onion + sesametop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,192 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Radish + sesametop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together49 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
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Radish + vinegartop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together507 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 apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (radish, onion, anchovy, sauce, sesame, vinegar, shrimp):
- Avocadobetter flavor fit
- Limebetter flavor fit
- Lemonbetter flavor fit
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against radish, onion, anchovy, sauce, sesame, vinegar, shrimp. 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).
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