Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Kabobs, Curried
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the meat into small pieces, about the size of a shilling and ¼ inch thick.
Cut equal pieces of green ginger and onions to match the size of the meat.
On skewers, alternate pieces of meat, slices of onion, and slices of ginger.
Prepare a curry sauce and cook the kabobs in it.
Serve the kabobs with boiled rice in a separate dish.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
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.
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Ginger + oniontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,595 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,433 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Ginger + ricetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,196 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Beef + ricetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,265 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, meat, onion, sauce, rice):
- Garlicfits better
- Celeryfits better
- Capersfits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, meat, onion, sauce, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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