Why it works: Beef and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,448 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Boil the beef and water for 2 hours until reduced to about 2 quarts.
Stir in the canned tomatoes and simmer for 45 minutes.
Finish and serve
Season to taste.
Strain.
Serve.
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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Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,448 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
- Beef
- Simmers into the water to give the broth a rich, meaty flavor and body.
- Canned tomatoes
- Add acidity, sweetness and bright tomato flavor, and moisture that thins the broth as it simmers.
The step that matters
Reducing the beef and water to about 2 quarts. Boiling evaporates water, which concentrates the flavor of the beef into the broth. Stopping the reduction early leaves the soup weak and thin, so the 2-hour boil is what gives the soup its body.
“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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