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Korean Short Rib Kebabs Recipe

Short rib kebabs with Korean seasonings.

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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 29,030 recipes mention both. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

The recipe

12 kebabs
Prep20 min
Cook6 hr

Ingredients

Contains: soy, 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.

  1. Soak the 12 bamboo skewers in a bowl of water for at least 30 minutes so they do not burn.

  2. In a bowl, whisk the soy sauce, mirin, brown sugar, rice vinegar, Sriracha, sesame oil, minced green onions and minced garlic until the sugar dissolves.

  3. Add the thinly sliced short ribs to the marinade, toss to coat, cover, and refrigerate for about 6 hours.

  4. Drain the skewers. Thread the marinated beef slices onto the skewers, folding each slice so the kebabs hold together, dividing evenly to make 12 kebabs.

  5. Heat a grill or grill pan to medium-high, about 450°F (232°C), and oil the grates lightly.

  6. Grill the kebabs 2 to 3 minutes per side, turning until browned and the beef reaches 145°F (63°C) in the thickest part. Rest 3 minutes before serving.

By chow. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29,030 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Rice + sesametop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together643 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  3. Sesame + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,192 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  4. Sesame + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,999 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Sriracha + garlictop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together270 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the sriracha

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, sugar, rice, vinegar, sesame, onion, garlic):

  1. Gingerbetter flavor fit
  2. Cuminbetter flavor fit
  3. Corianderbetter flavor fit
  4. Srirachathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, sugar, rice, vinegar, sesame, onion, garlic. 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).