Name: BBQ Tamarind Salmon with Lemongrass, Chilli & Ginger
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients: 100g jar tamarind purée; 2 stalks lemongrass , sliced (woody layers removed); 1 small red chilli , seeds removed and finely chopped, 3 cm root ginger , grated; 3 tbsp palm sugar or honey; a small bunch mint , chopped; 700g piece salmon , skin on; a small handful coriander , chopped

Why it works: Ginger and salmon work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 648 recipes mention both. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 6

Ingredients

Contains: fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

100g jar tamarind purée
2 stalks lemongrass, sliced (woody layers removed)
1 small red chilli, seeds removed and finely chopped, 3 cm root ginger, grated
3 tbsp palm sugar or honey
a small bunch mint, chopped
700g piece salmon, skin on
a small handful coriander, chopped

Directions

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

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Ginger + salmontop 9% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together648 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Ginger + coriandertop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together3,504 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Ginger + minttop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together647 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Mint + coriandertop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together940 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Tamarind + gingertop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together325 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tamarind, ginger, sugar, salmon, coriander):

Cardamombetter flavor fit
Cuminbetter flavor fit
Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tamarind, ginger, sugar, salmon, coriander. 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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