Name: Lion’s Mane Pork Balls with Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 2 h
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 100g/3½oz glutinous rice; 350g/12oz lean pork mince; 2 garlic; 2 tsp cornflour; 1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder; 1½ tbsp dark soy sauce; 2 tsp Chinese rice wine; 1½ tbsp fresh chopped coriander; sea salt and freshly ground black pepper; 3 tsp caster sugar; 1½ tbsp sherry vinegar; 1½ tbsp light soy sauce; 2 small shallots; 1-2 small red chillies; 3 tsp sesame oil; small bunch spring onions; 1 cucumber; 1 lemon

Why it works: Garlic and coriander are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 6,474 recipes mention both. 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Garlic + coriandertop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together6,474 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Coriander + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together5,949 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Rice + coriandertop 7% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together1,854 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together27,090 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Rice + porktop 11% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together2,137 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, pork, sauce, rice wine, coriander, pepper, sugar):

Gingerbetter flavor fit
Cuminabout as good a flavor fit
Turmericabout as good a flavor fit
Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, pork, sauce, rice wine, coriander, pepper, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

Lion’s Mane Pork Balls with Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce