Name: Beef Stroganoff with Rice
Ingredients: 1 to 1 1/2 pounds lean beef round steak, cut into thin strips; 1 tablespoon butter or margarine; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon paprika; 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder; 1 10-3/4-ounce can condensed cream of mushroom soup; 1 1/4 cups beef broth or water, divided; 1 cup chopped onion; 2 tablespoons flour; 1/2 cup sour cream; 3 cups hot cooked rice

Why it works: Garlic and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. 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.

Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,232 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Garlic + mushroomtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,700 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef round steak: Provides the meat that becomes tender during the long, covered simmer.
Cream of mushroom soup: Forms the creamy base of the sauce and adds savory body.
Flour: Thickens the sauce as it cooks, giving it a smooth, cohesive texture.
Sour cream: Adds tang and a silky richness to the finished sauce.
Beef broth: Adds liquid and beefy flavor that loosens and seasons the sauce.
Onion: Softens and adds sweetness and aroma to the sauce.

The step that matters

Add sour cream; heat thoroughly, but do not boil.. Sour cream can curdle and separate when it gets too hot or boils, so it should be warmed gently after the heat is reduced and the sauce is off a rolling boil.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, pepper, cream, mushroom, onion, flour):

Garlicthe original
Thymefits about as well
Parsleyfits less well
Celeryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, pepper, cream, mushroom, onion, flour. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Beef	100g cooked	250
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Soup	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

Beef Stroganoff with Rice