Name: Provincial Beef Stew
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 2 h 15 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 2 pounds blade roast, trimmed and cut into 1 inch cubes; 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 4 cloves garlic, minced; 1 teaspoon dried thyme; 2 (14.5 ounce) cans stewed tomatoes; 1 1/2 cups beef broth; 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar; 1/2 cup orange juice; 2 bay leaves; 1 orange peel, cut into strips; 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper; 4 large carrots, sliced diagonally; 2 cups fresh mushrooms; 2 cups pickled pearl onions, drained; 1 1/2 cups rotini pasta

Why it works: Olive and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

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.

Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,108 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Olive + thymetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,948 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, olive, garlic, thyme, tomato, beef, red wine):

Rosemaryfits better
Oreganofits better
Basilfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, olive, garlic, thyme, tomato, beef, red wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Beef	100g cooked	250
Pasta	1 cup cooked (140g)	220
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Mushrooms	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2

Provincial Beef Stew