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
Prepare the stock
Boil the beef bone the day before and remove the fat.
Heat the bone over the fire.
Make the soup
Peel, wash, and slice the potatoes.
Add the potatoes, shredded cabbage, soaked corn, chopped onions, and chopped celery to the pot.
Simmer slowly, ensuring it does not burn.
Strain the soup and serve.
Noodle variation
For noodle soup, add noodles after straining and cook for 15-20 minutes.
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 + tomatotop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,377 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Potato + corntop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together938 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,798 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Corn + tomatotop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,099 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef bone
- Gives the broth its meaty flavour and body as it simmers.
- Potatoes
- Release starch as they cook, thickening the broth and adding body.
- White cabbage
- Adds mild sweetness and soft texture as it cooks down into the broth.
- Onions
- Build savoury depth and sweetness as they soften in the broth.
- Celery
- Adds aromatic, savoury flavour to the broth.
The step that matters
Simmer slowly without letting it burn. Gentle heat extracts flavour from the bone and vegetables without scorching the base of the pot. Strong boiling can make the broth cloudy and cause sticking and scorching on the bottom of the pot, which gives a burnt taste.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, corn, onion, celery, tomato):
- Carrotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Okrafits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, corn, onion, celery, tomato. 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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