Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Stock Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Place the meat and soup bone in a large pot with the cold water and salt.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 7.5 to 8 hours.
One hour before the stock is done, add the sliced onions.
Season with pepper and additional salt a few minutes before straining.
Strain the stock while hot through a colander into a clean vessel.
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 + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 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
- Fresh lean beef
- Provides the main meaty flavor and savory body to the stock as it simmers.
- Soup bone
- Releases gelatin and marrow flavor into the water, adding body and richness to the stock.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock during the final hour of simmering.
The step that matters
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer. Keeping the stock at a gentle simmer rather than a rolling boil keeps it clear, since vigorous boiling emulsifies fat and cloudies the liquid.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Carrotfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, 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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