Why it works: Pepper and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,491 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Five-spice Duck Breasts with Honey and Soy
Serves 2Ingredients
Directions
Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →
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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Pepper + limetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,491 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Onion + sesametop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,192 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Honey + sesametop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together527 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl pentanoate (yeast, fruit).
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Sesame + limetop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together431 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Pepper + oniontop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together68,463 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 onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, honey, sauce, egg, sesame, lime):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Spinachbetter flavor fit
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, honey, sauce, egg, sesame, lime. 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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