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Macaroni, Southern Stew

A hearty stew of roast beef, onions, and bacon with tomatoes, allspice, and boiled macaroni.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,395 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Macaroni, Southern Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stew

  1. Fry the bacon in an iron kettle until crisp.

  2. Add the chopped onions and fry until brown.

  3. Stir in the roast beef and hot water.

  4. Stew for 4 hours.

  5. Add the can of tomatoes, salt, pepper, and allspice; cook for 20 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Just before serving, stir in the boiled macaroni.

  2. Heap on a large hot platter and serve immediately.

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. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,448 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Bacon
Renders fat that fries the onions and adds a smoky, savory base flavor.
Onions
Browning them builds sweetness and depth in the stew's savory base.
Roast beef
Provides the meaty body and savory flavor of the stew.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and liquid that help bring the stew together.
Macaroni
Adds starchy bulk that thickens the stew and gives it substance.

The step that matters

Stew for 4 hours. A long, gentle simmer lets the beef become tender and the flavors meld. Too hot a heat can scorch the bottom of the kettle or toughen the meat, so keep it at a low, steady simmer.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, beef, tomato, pepper):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, beef, tomato, 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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