Name: Chinese Beef or Veal
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: Beef into strips 454 g (1 lb); onion, chopped 1; Non-hydrogenated margarine Nuvel 5 ml (1 tsp); Beef broth or other 250 ml (1 cup); Whole wheat flour 15 ml (1 tbsp); Worcestershire sauce 2 ml (1 / 2 tsp); Light soy sauce 30 ml (2 tbsp); Fresh ginger, garlic powder to taste; Sliced mushrooms 500 ml (2 cups); Red pepper strips 1; Green pepper strips 1; Celery cut diagonally 1 branch; Raw broccoli florets 250 ml (1 cup); Cauliflower florets 250 ml (1 cup); Chopped fresh parsley 30 ml (2 tbsp)

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. 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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,232 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Ginger + garlictop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,402 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,700 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, wheat, flour, sauce, garlic, mushroom):

Cuminfits better
Capersfits better
Thymefits better
Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, wheat, flour, sauce, garlic, mushroom. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Beef	100g cooked	250
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Mushrooms	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1

Chinese Beef or Veal