In one embodiment, path routing in a node fabric of an information-centric network (ICN) includes transmitting a request from a source application to an upstream node via node faces of nodes in the node fabric along a path encoded in a Path Steering Value (PSV); and receiving at the source application from the upstream node a reply that travels along a return path encoded in the PSV. The PSV is generated by pairwise encoding pairs of node faces successively traversed by the reply and is represented by a deterministically decodable pairing function. Node face identifiers can be deterministically, i.e., uniquely, decoded from the PSV. The deterministically decodable pairing function is selected from a Cantor function, a Hopcroft and Ullman variant of the Cantor function, Hilbert curve algorithm, Morton code, and a bitwise pairing function.