Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Beef Stew
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 250°F (120°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Simmer the stew
Place the beef in a large kettle and cover with 3.5 gallons of water.
Turn on the heat and bring slowly to a boil.
Once boiling, skim off the scum that rises to the top.
Tie the soup herbs in a bag and add to the kettle along with the onions.
Bring to a boil again and simmer for three hours.
Add the potatoes and salt, then cook for an additional ten minutes after boiling.
Thicken and season
Mix the flour with 5 gallons of water, then add to the kettle and bring to a full boil.
Shut off the heat, then add the black pepper and finely chopped parsley.
Can
Pack the stew into 3-pound cans, cap, tip, and process for 60 minutes at 250°F (120°C).
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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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,052 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef
- Provides meat flavor and, after long simmering, tender pieces with body from dissolved collagen.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and savory aroma as they soften and release their flavor into the broth.
- Potatoes
- Add starch and bulk, softening into the broth and giving it a heartier texture.
- Flour
- Thickens the broth as its starch swells when mixed with water and heated to a boil.
- Soup herbs
- Infuse the broth with aromatic herbal flavor while it simmers in a bag.
The step that matters
Mixing the flour with water before adding it to the kettle. Flour added dry clumps and stays raw-tasting. Mixing it into water first makes a smooth slurry, and bringing the hot stew to a full boil lets the starch swell and thicken evenly.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, parsley, pepper, flour):
- Carrotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Okrafits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, parsley, pepper, flour. 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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