Name: Peruvian Beef Kabobs with Pepper Sauce
Ingredients: Beef; 1 1/2 lbs sirloin steak; 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar; 2 teaspoons hot red paprika; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper; 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin; 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric; Rub; 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon hot paprika; 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper; 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric; Pepper Sauce; 1 large yellow bell pepper; 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions; 2 tablespoons white vinegar; 1 tablespoon water; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 1 teaspoon hot paprika; 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric; 1/4 teaspoon black pepper; 1 clove garlic

Why it works: Cumin and turmeric match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,698 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. 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.

Cumin + turmerictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,698 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Pepper + turmerictop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,478 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cumin + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,498 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Pepper + cumintop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,382 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 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

What each ingredient does

Sirloin steak: Provides the main meat, which the marinade and rub season and tenderise.
Red wine vinegar: Acidic marinade component that helps tenderise the beef and adds tang.
Hot red paprika: Adds colour and warm, smoky heat to the rub and marinade.
Ground cumin: Adds earthy, warm aroma to the beef and the sauce.
Yellow bell pepper: Main body of the sauce, adding sweetness, moisture and mild flavour when blended.
White vinegar: Adds acidity to the sauce, brightening its flavour and balancing the sweet pepper.

The step that matters

Broil the pepper halves until the skins blister, then seal them in a bag. Charring blisters the skin so it peels off easily, and trapped steam loosens it further. Thorough charring also deepens the pepper's smoky flavour in the sauce.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, red wine, vinegar, pepper, cumin, turmeric, sauce):

Capsicumfits better
Tomatofits better
Shallotfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, red wine, vinegar, pepper, cumin, turmeric, sauce. 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
Beef	100g cooked	250
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Turmeric	1 tsp ground (3g)	9
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

Peruvian Beef Kabobs with Pepper Sauce