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Dinner Tonight: Mapo Tofu

By seriouseats · From Open Recipes · 13 ingredients
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Dinner Tonight: Mapo Tofu

Why it works: Leek and beans share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 51 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Dinner Tonight: Mapo Tofu

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1291Calories
89 gProtein
38 gFat
144 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 14 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Pork100g cooked242
Chicken100g cooked165
Peanut Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Black Bean1/2 cup canned (120g) drained114
Tofu100g firm76
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Beannot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By seriouseats. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Leek + beanstop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together51 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Garlic + leektop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together150 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Tofu + beanstop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Clove + leektop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together579 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

Swap the leek

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tofu, peanut oil, pork, garlic, clove, beans, pepper):

  1. Welsh onionfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Leekthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tofu, peanut oil, pork, garlic, clove, beans, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.