Why it works: Garlic and sriracha work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 270 recipes mention both. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 4Ingredients
Contains: egg, wheat, fish (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.
Dice the tomato, onion, and chili pepper, and finely chop the cilantro. Toss them together in a bowl with the juice of 2 limes to make a salsa. Cut the remaining lime into wedges.
Stir the sriracha into the mayonnaise until smooth and set aside for serving.
Cut the fish into strips about 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick, pat dry, and season with a little of the salt and black pepper.
In a bowl, whisk the flour with the remaining salt, the remaining black pepper, and the garlic powder. Gradually whisk in the beer until you have a smooth, thick batter.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat to about 375°F (190°C). Dip the fish pieces in the batter, let excess drip off, and fry 2 to 3 minutes per side until golden.
Check that the thickest pieces of fish reach 145°F (63°C) and flake easily. Drain the fried fish on paper towels.
Warm the tortillas in a dry skillet over medium heat for about 30 seconds per side, until soft and pliable.
Fill each tortilla with fried fish, salsa, and a drizzle of sriracha mayo. Serve with the lime wedges on the side.
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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Garlic + srirachatop 5% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together270 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Pepper + limetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,491 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Garlic + tomatotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together14,075 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Pepper + tomatotop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together17,913 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the lime
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, flour, pepper, garlic, beer, tomato, onion):
- Limethe original
- Lemonabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, flour, pepper, garlic, beer, tomato, onion. 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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