Why it works: Tofu and radish work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 18 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-hexanol, which smells resin, flower. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 4Ingredients
Contains: soy (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.
Drain the tofu, pat it dry with paper towels, and cut it into four equal blocks or slices.
Arrange the tofu on a serving plate or four small plates.
Wash the radish sprouts or greens, cut off the roots, and pat them completely dry.
Pile the sprouts or greens neatly beside or over the tofu.
Place the grated ginger on top of the tofu.
Sprinkle the bonito flakes over the tofu and greens.
Spoon the ponzu over everything just before serving so the flakes stay light.
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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Tofu + radishtop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together18 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanol (resin, flower).
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Tofu + gingertop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together284 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Ginger + radishtop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together172 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Tofu + bonitotop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together13 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Ginger + bonitotop 8% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together13 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the radish
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tofu, ginger, ponzu, bonito):
- Welsh onionbetter flavor fit
- Onionbetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Radishthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tofu, ginger, ponzu, bonito. 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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