Name: Beef Montparnasse
Ingredients: 2 Pounds Round steak, Cut in Serving Size Pieces; 2 Tablespoons shortening; 2 bacon Slices -- Crumbled; 6 Small White onions; 6 new Potatoes -- Peeled; 2 Cans mushrooms With Liquid -- 4 Ounces Each; 1/2 Cup Dry white Wine; 1 Tablespoon Minced parsley; 2 Teaspoons salt; 1/2 Teaspoon pepper; 1 bay Leaf

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. 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.

Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,855 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Mushroom + white winetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,765 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Round steak: Forms the main body of the dish and becomes tender during pressure cooking.
White wine: Adds acidity and aroma to the gravy as it cooks with the meat.
Potatoes: Absorb cooking liquid and add starch that helps thicken the gravy.
Mushrooms: Contribute moisture and savory, earthy flavor to the gravy.

The step that matters

Brown the steak. Browning the meat before pressure cooking develops deep, savory flavor through the Maillard reaction. Crowding the pan or not heating the fat enough causes the meat to steam grey instead of browning.

Swap the onion

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

Carrotfits better
Shallotfits better
Capsicumfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, mushroom, white wine, parsley, pepper. 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
Beef	100g cooked	250
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Beef Montparnasse