Name: Lemongrass Pork and Red Onion Kebabs Recipe
Cook time: 4 h
Yield: 8 kebabs
Ingredients: 3 large garlic cloves , roughly chopped; 2 small shallots , roughly chopped; 2 stalks lemongrass , trimmed and chopped; 3 tablespoons brown sugar; 3 tablespoons fish sauce; 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce; 1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil , plus more for coating the grill; Freshly ground black pepper; 2 pounds boneless pork shoulder (1-inch-thick steak), cut into 1-inch chunks; 8 bamboo skewers; 1 large red onion , trimmed and cut into thin wedges; Fresh cilantro , chopped, for garnish (optional)

Why it works: Garlic and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,000 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. 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.

Garlic + shallottop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,000 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Clove + shallottop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,677 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,090 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Garlic + clovetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,368 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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 (garlic, shallot, sugar, fish sauce, sauce, canola oil, pepper):

Turmericfits better
Capersfits better
Gingerfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, shallot, sugar, fish sauce, sauce, canola oil, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Pork	100g cooked	242
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
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
Lemongrass	1 tbsp (6g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1

Lemongrass Pork and Red Onion Kebabs Recipe