Why it works: Gochujang and garlic work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 42 recipes mention both. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓
The recipe
4 servingsIngredients
Contains: egg, soy, sesame (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.
In a bowl, combine the beef with the soy sauce, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, 2 teaspoons of the toasted sesame oil and the optional 1 teaspoon of the divided gochujang. Cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes, up to 1 hour.
Bring a pan of water to a boil, add the spinach and cook about 30 seconds until wilted. Drain, squeeze dry, then toss with 1 teaspoon of the sesame oil and set aside.
Heat 1 teaspoon of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir-fry the carrot matchsticks for 3 minutes until tender-crisp, then transfer to a plate.
Add the marinated beef to the same skillet over high heat. Stir-fry 3 to 4 minutes until no pink remains and it reaches 145°F (63°C) in the thickest part. Rest for 3 minutes.
Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Crack in the eggs and cook until the whites are set and the yolks are firm, about 4 minutes.
Mix the 1/4 cup gochujang with the remaining 1 teaspoon of sesame oil and the remaining 1 teaspoon of optional gochujang until smooth. Serve on the side.
Divide the cooked rice among 4 bowls. Arrange the cucumber, spinach, carrots and beef over each portion, top with a fried egg and sprinkle with the sesame seeds.
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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Gochujang + garlictop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together42 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Spinach + garlictop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,433 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanol (resin, flower).
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Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together23,449 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Pepper + carrottop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cucumber + garlictop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,548 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the gochujang
The recipe marks gochujang as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, pepper, spinach, sauce, olive, carrot, garlic):
- Parsleybetter flavor fit
- Cuminbetter flavor fit
- Corianderbetter flavor fit
- Gochujangthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, pepper, spinach, sauce, olive, carrot, garlic. 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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