Name: Chinese Spinach and Mushroom Soup
Ingredients: 2 14 1/2-ounce cans vegetable broth; 1 1/2 cups water; 2 tablespoons soy sauce; 2 tablespoons rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar; 1 tablespoon oriental sesame oil; 1 tablespoon minced garlic; 1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger; 2 cups thinly sliced mushrooms (about 5 ounces); 1/2 pound firm tofu, cut into 1/2-inch pieces; 1/2 10-ounce bag ready-to-use spinach leaves; 3 green onions, chopped

Why it works: Sesame and tofu match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 250 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. 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.

Sesame + tofutop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together250 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Sesame + spinachtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together203 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Garlic + spinachtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,435 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Rice + sesametop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together984 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Sesame + gingertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,531 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Mushrooms: Release savory, earthy flavor and body into the broth as they cook.
Tofu: Adds soft, mild protein pieces that absorb the broth's seasoning.
Spinach leaves: Wilt quickly in the hot broth, adding color and a tender texture.
Soy sauce: Provides salty, savory depth that seasons the whole broth.
Rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar: Adds a bright acidity that balances the savory broth.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, rice, sesame, garlic, mushroom, tofu, spinach):

Turmericfits better
Cuminfits better
Capersfits about as well
Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, rice, sesame, garlic, mushroom, tofu, spinach. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Sesame	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Tofu	100g firm	76
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Mushrooms	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Spinach	1 cup raw (30g)	7
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Water	not in our table	0

Chinese Spinach and Mushroom Soup