Why it works: Lime and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,621 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
The recipe
4 servingsIngredients
Contains: soy (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.
Whisk the lime juice, lemon juice, grapefruit juice, rice vinegar, olive oil, soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, honey, minced ginger, garlic salt, black pepper and ground cinnamon in a bowl until the honey dissolves.
Place the flat iron steak in a resealable bag or shallow dish, pour in the marinade, turn to coat, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, turning occasionally.
Remove the steak from the refrigerator 15 minutes before cooking, then pat it dry. Discard the used marinade.
Heat a cast-iron skillet or grill over high heat until very hot, about 3 minutes.
Cook the steak 2 to 3 minutes per side, until the thickest part reaches 145°F (63°C) on an instant-read thermometer.
Transfer the steak to a cutting board and rest it for 3 minutes.
Slice the steak thinly against the grain and serve.
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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Lime + gingertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,621 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lime + lemontop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,289 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lime + grapefruittop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together70 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together23,449 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Lemon + grapefruittop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together183 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the grapefruit
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lime, lemon, rice, vinegar, olive, sauce, garlic):
- Avocadobetter flavor fit
- Mangobetter flavor fit
- Orangebetter flavor fit
- Grapefruitthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lime, lemon, rice, vinegar, olive, sauce, 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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