Name: Thai Sticky Chicken & Ribs
Prep time: 30 min
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients: 3 small green chillies , chopped; small bunch coriander with stems, stems chopped and leaves used for the dipping sauce; 3 garlic cloves , chopped, 3cm/1 ¼ inch piece ginger , chopped; 1 tsp ground turmeric; 2 tbsp soy sauce; 4 tbsp fish sauce; 8 tbsp palm or soft brown sugar; 2 tbsp clear honey; 4 chicken thighs , skin on; 2 slabs pork loin ribs, about 1kg/2lb 4oz; steamed rice , to serve; 200g caster sugar; 1 garlic clove , finely sliced; 3 tbsp white vinegar (rice or wine); juice 1 lime; 1 tbsp fish sauce; 1 red bird's-eye chilli , finely sliced; handful coriander leaves (from coriander in the marinade), chopped

Why it works: Ginger and turmeric match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,776 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. 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.

Ginger + turmerictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,776 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Coriander + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,505 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Coriander + turmerictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,253 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Coriander + garlictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,474 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 (coriander, sauce, clove, ginger, turmeric, fish sauce, sugar):

Cardamombetter flavor fit
Cuminbetter flavor fit
Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against coriander, sauce, clove, ginger, turmeric, fish sauce, 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).

Thai Sticky Chicken & Ribs