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Pasticada

A slow‑cooked beef dish braised with bacon, carrots, onions, wine, tomatoes, and herbs.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Pasticada

Ingredients

Directions

Braise the beef

  1. Fry the meat in oil, stuffed with bacon and carrots.

  2. Add onion, the remaining bacon and carrots, celery, garlic, bay leaves, and beef soup.

  3. Braise until the meat becomes tender.

  4. When the meat is almost cooked, add wine, tomato, tomato purée and braise for 15 more minutes.

Slice and finish

  1. When the meat is almost tender, take it out and cut into pieces.

  2. Put the pieces in a pan, pour the sauce over them, and braise for a couple of minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

883Calories
46 gProtein
20 gFat
121 gCarbs

Counts 13 of 14 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Beef100g cooked250
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Soupnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Baby beef neck or shoulder joint
Its connective tissue breaks down during braising, making the meat tender and rich.
Bacon
Renders fat into the pan and adds smoky, savoury flavour to the braise.
Red wine
Adds acidity and depth to the sauce as it reduces.
Onions
Build sweetness and savoury body in the sauce as they cook down.
Tomato purée
Concentrates tomato flavour and adds colour and body to the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the sauce so it clings to the meat.

The step that matters

Braise until the meat becomes tender. Collagen in the neck or shoulder only turns to gelatin with long, gentle, moist heat. Cooking too fast or too hot leaves the meat tough and dry, so check tenderness before moving on.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, red wine, parsley):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, red wine, parsley. 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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