Name: Condensed Ox Tail Soup
Ingredients: 100 gallons water; double quantity of all ingredients except ox tails and butter; 2 pounds extract of beef; 10 pounds corn starch; salt to taste; pepper to taste; sherry to taste; caramel to taste

Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Condensed Ox Tail Soup

Ingredients

Directions

In a large pot, combine 100 gallons of water with double the quantity of all ingredients except for the ox tails and butter.
Add 2 pounds of extract of beef to the mixture.
In a separate bowl, mix 10 pounds of corn starch with cold water to create a slurry.
Stir the corn starch mixture into the pot to thicken the soup.
Season with salt, pepper, sherry, and caramel to taste.

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.

Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,324 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Beef + corntop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,028 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,505 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Butter + corntop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,345 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).