Name: Orange-flavored Beef Stir-fry
Ingredients: 1 pound well-trimmed boneless beef top sirloin or top round steak, cut 3/4 inch thick; 5 tablespoons Kikkoman Stir-Fry Sauce, divided; 2 teaspoons minced garlic; 1/4 teaspoon grated fresh orange peel; 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice; 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch; 1 pound fresh broccoli; 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided; 1 carrot, cut diagonally into thin slices; 1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Why it works: Garlic and broccoli match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,072 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. 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 + broccolitop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,072 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Broccoli + almondtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together206 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Orange + carrottop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together737 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Broccoli + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,442 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,125 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef top sirloin or top round steak: Provides the meat, which stays tender when sliced thin and cooked briefly over high heat.
Cornstarch: Thickens the sauce as it boils, giving it a glossy, clinging texture.
Broccoli: Adds crisp-tender texture and body to the stir-fry.
Carrot: Adds sweetness and a firm, crisp bite to the vegetables.
Fresh orange juice: Adds bright acidity and citrus flavour to the sauce.

The step that matters

Stir-frying the beef in batches. Crowding the wok drops its temperature so the beef steams and turns grey instead of searing. Cooking half at a time over high heat keeps the surface browned and the meat tender.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, sauce, garlic, broccoli, carrot, almond):

Avocadofits better
Limefits better
Lemonfits about as well
Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, sauce, garlic, broccoli, carrot, almond. 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
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Orange Peel	1 medium (131g)	62
Orange Juice	1 medium (131g)	62
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Almond	1 almond (1.2g)	7
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Sauce	not in our table	0

Orange-flavored Beef Stir-fry