Why it works: Sunflower and chicory share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and 4 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 8Ingredients
Contains: soy, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Whisk together the 300ml soy sauce, 110ml sunflower oil, 3 finely chopped garlic, 1 finely chopped red chilli and 1 tbsp grated ginger. Put the beef in a dish, pour the marinade over, cover and chill for at least 2 hours, turning once.
Heat a heavy pan over high heat until very hot. Take the beef out of the marinade, pat it dry and sear it for about 3 minutes per side until browned all over.
Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F). Transfer the beef to a roasting tin and roast for about 15 minutes, until the thickest part reaches 145°F (63°C). Rest it, loosely covered, for 3 minutes.
Mix the 6 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp Thai fish sauce, 1 tbsp soft light brown sugar, the juice of ½ lemon, the remaining 1 finely chopped red chilli, 2 finely chopped garlic and 4 tbsp chopped coriander. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
Thinly slice the beef against the grain. Toss the peppery leaves with the rest of the coriander leaves from the bunch, arrange on plates, top with the beef and spoon over the dressing.
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.
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Sunflower + chicorytop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Coriander + lemontop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,498 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Coriander + gingertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,504 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Ginger + lemontop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,154 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Garlic + coriandertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together6,477 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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 (sauce, sunflower, beef, coriander, ginger, lemon, fish sauce):
- Turmericbetter flavor fit
- Cardamombetter flavor fit
- Cuminbetter flavor fit
- Garlicthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, sunflower, beef, coriander, ginger, lemon, fish sauce. 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).
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