Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Beef Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Place a kettle on the stove.
Break up the beef shank and boil it slowly in enough water for your soup.
An hour before serving, add the chopped potatoes, onions, rice, and optional cabbage and celery.
Continue to boil slowly until ready to serve.
Remove the bones and strain the vegetables if you prefer a clear soup.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
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.
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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cabbage + celerytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,840 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,047 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef shank
- Provides the main meat and rich flavor as its collagen and fat slowly enrich the broth.
- Potatoes
- Break down partly during simmering, adding body and starch that thickens the soup.
- Onions
- Soften and turn sweet during slow boiling, adding savory depth to the broth.
- Rice
- Absorbs liquid and swells, adding body and thickening the soup as it cooks.
The step that matters
Boiling the beef slowly. Gentle simmering lets collagen in the shank break down into gelatin slowly, giving tender meat and a fuller broth. Rapid boiling toughens meat and can make the broth cloudy.
Swap the cabbage
The recipe marks cabbage as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, onion, rice, celery, pepper):
- Carrotfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, onion, rice, celery, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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