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Beef Stew

A hearty stew of beef, potatoes, and spices simmered in stock and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Beef Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Heat stock, water, salt, and pepper to boiling.

  2. Bruise spices and cook in a little water for 10 minutes, then strain into the soup.

Thicken and finish

  1. Cook fat and flour together, then wet with cold broth and strain into the soup.

  2. Add dumplings and cook until soft.

  3. Finally, add meat and potato dice.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,422 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Clove + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  4. Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Flour + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,302 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Cooked with fat, it thickens the broth into a smoother, richer body.
Dripping (fat)
Carries flavor and, cooked with flour, forms a roux that thickens the soup.
Meat
Provides the main savory, meaty flavor and substance of the stew.
Potatoes
Add starch and bulk, softening into the stew to give body.
Dry dumplings or noodles
Absorb broth as they cook, becoming soft and adding bulk to the stew.

The step that matters

Cook fat and flour together, then wet with cold broth. Cooking flour in fat builds a roux that thickens evenly. Adding cold liquid gradually and stirring helps prevent lumps, because starch granules swell and clump when hot liquid hits raw flour.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, flour, clove, allspice, celery, meat):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, flour, clove, allspice, celery, meat. 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.

More beef stew recipes

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