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 ↓
Beef-Tea
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beef
Remove all fat, gristle, and bones from the beef and cut it into fine pieces.
Soak the beef in cold water for 2 hours.
Simmer and strain
Place the beef and water in a double boiler and boil the water in the outer vessel for 3 hours.
Strain the mixture, season with salt and pepper, and skim off any fat.
Serve hot.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 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 meat flavor and the savory body of the tea as its juices are slowly extracted into the water.
- Cold water
- Serves as the liquid that slowly draws flavor out of the beef during soaking and long gentle heating.
The step that matters
Boil the water in the outer vessel for 3 hours. A double boiler keeps the inner pot below a rolling boil, so the beef simmers gently. Vigorous boiling would toughen the meat proteins and cloud the broth, so the outer water must be kept at a steady, controlled heat.
“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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