Name: Fried Crispy Shrimp Skewers
Yield: 12 skewers, serving 4-6 as an appetizer
Ingredients: 1/2 cup sugar; 1/2 cup rice vinegar; 1 teaspoon Thai or Vietnamese fish sauce; 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes; 1 clove garlic, minced on microplane; 1 tablespoon juice from 1 lime; sliced scallions or chives; 12 colossal shrimp (about 1 pound), peeled and deveined; 1 cup all-purpose flour; 2 eggs, beaten; 1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs; 1/4 cup sesame seeds; 1 teaspoon Japanese hot pepper (togarashi) or 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper; Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper; 1.5 quarts peanut oil

Why it works: Pepper and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,491 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. 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.

Pepper + limetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,491 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Clove + limetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together909 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Garlic + limetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,411 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,090 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, rice, vinegar, fish sauce, pepper, clove, lime):

Cinnamonfits better
Cardamomfits better
Corianderfits better
Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, rice, vinegar, fish sauce, pepper, clove, lime. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Sesame	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Peanut Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Shrimp	100g cooked	99
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Chive	1 tbsp (3g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Fried Crispy Shrimp Skewers