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Old-fashioned Beef Stew I

A hearty beef stew with flour-coated meat, onions, carrots, potatoes, and seasonings simmered in water.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Old-fashioned Beef Stew I

Time1½ to 2 hours

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Mix the flour, salt, and pepper and roll the beef cubes in the mixture, then shake off excess.

  2. Melt the shortening over high heat in a dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot with a cover.

  3. When the fat is very hot add the beef, about 5 or 6 pieces at a time so as not to crowd them, brown on all sides, and remove.

  4. When the last batch of meat is a richly dark color, return all to the pot and pour on the boiling water. Stand back when you do, because it will spit and sputter.

Simmer

  1. Stir and add the lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, onion, bay leaves, and allspice.

  2. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 1½ to 2 hours, or until the meat is tender.

  3. Add the carrots, onions, and potatoes and cook another 20–25 minutes or until they can be pierced easily with a fork.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1120Calories
47 gProtein
29 gFat
169 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
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Allspice1 tsp ground (1.9g)5
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot 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. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Lemon + allspicetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,083 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 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

Stewing beef
Provides the meat that becomes tender during the long, slow simmer.
Flour
Coats the beef so it browns richly and helps thicken the cooking liquid.
Shortening
Conducts heat for browning the beef and carries flavor across the pot.
Carrots
Add sweetness and hold their shape through the simmer.
Potatoes
Soften during cooking and add starch that gives body to the stew.

The step that matters

Browning the beef in batches. Crowding the pot drops the temperature and makes the meat steam instead of brown. Deep browning builds the savory flavor the stew depends on, so brown in small batches in very hot fat.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, pepper, beef, lemon, sauce, sugar, allspice):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Arrowrootfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, pepper, beef, lemon, sauce, sugar, allspice. 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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