Name: Thai Beef Salad
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 5 min
Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients: 300g rump steaks , trimmed of fat; 2 tsp groundnut oil; juice 1 lime; 1 red chilli , deseeded and sliced (bird's-eye chillies work well); 1 tbsp light brown soft sugar; 85g bag baby leaf salad; 140g beansprouts; 140g red grapes , halved; steamed rice , to serve (optional)

Why it works: Lime and rice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,014 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Thai Beef Salad

Serves 2

Prep15 min

Cook5 min

Ingredients

300g rump steaks , trimmed of fat
2 tsp groundnut oil
juice 1 lime
1 red chilli , deseeded and sliced (bird's-eye chillies work well)
1 tbsp light brown soft sugar
85g bag baby leaf salad
140g beansprouts
140g red grapes , halved
steamed rice , to serve (optional)

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

447Calories

5 gProtein

14 gFat

77 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Red Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Leaf	not in our table	0
Salad	not in our table	0

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

By bbcgoodfood. 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.

Lime + ricetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,014 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Grape + ricetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together839 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lime + grapetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together246 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Sugar + grapetop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,490 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + ricetop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,744 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

Swap the lime

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, grape, rice):

Vanillafits better
Applefits better
Figfits better
Limethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, grape, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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