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Hot-pot

A stew of beef, potatoes, onion, and seasonings simmered in beef stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Hot-pot

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Stew the beef for 30 minutes to make it tender.

  2. Cut the beef into 2-inch pieces.

Layer and finish

  1. In a white pot or suitable stewing pot, layer some beef pieces at the bottom.

  2. Add a little beef stock over the beef.

  3. Layer potatoes, onion, pepper, and salt on top of the beef.

  4. Repeat the layers with more beef and seasoning.

  5. Finish with a layer of potatoes.

  6. Ensure the top layer of potatoes is browned.

  7. If using mutton, reduce the stewing time as it doesn't require as much cooking.

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.

  1. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  5. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 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 rump steak
Provides the meat that becomes tender during slow stewing.
Potatoes
Soak up the stock and soften, adding body to the layers.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aroma as it softens in the stock.
Beef stock
Supplies moisture and savoury flavour that cooks the layers.

The step that matters

Stewing the beef gently. Beef becomes tender when its connective tissue breaks down slowly in moist, gentle heat. Stewing it too hard or too briefly leaves the meat tough and chewy, so keep the liquid at a low simmer for the full time.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, pepper, mushroom):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, pepper, mushroom. 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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