Name: Oriental Beef Stir-Fry
Ingredients: 1 1/2 pounds beef sirloin steak, cut into thin strips; 1/4 cup peanut or vegetable oil; 1 clove garlic, minced; 1 cup thinly sliced carrots; 2 stalks celery, diagonally sliced; 1 large green pepper, cut into 3/4-inch squares; 1 zucchini, thinly sliced; 1/4 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced*; 1 cup chicken broth; 2 tablespoons soy sauce; 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch; 3 cups hot cooked rice

Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. 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.

Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,232 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Peanut + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together877 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,873 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef sirloin steak: Provides the main protein, browning to savory flavor when seared quickly over high heat.
Cornstarch: Thickens the broth and soy sauce mixture into a glossy sauce that clings to the ingredients.
Soy sauce: Adds salty, savory flavor to the sauce.
Chicken broth: Provides the liquid base of the sauce that cornstarch thickens.

The step that matters

Adding the cornstarch sauce. Cornstarch must be combined with cool liquid before it goes into the hot pan, then cooked until it thickens. Added as a dry powder or undercooked, it will clump or leave a starchy taste.

Swap the peanut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, clove, garlic, carrot, celery, pepper, mushroom):

Beansfits better
Chickpeafits better
Lentilsfits better
Peanutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, clove, garlic, carrot, celery, pepper, mushroom. 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
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Beef	100g cooked	250
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Peanut	1 oz (28g)	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Mushrooms	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4

Oriental Beef Stir-Fry