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Emeril's Best Beef Stew

A hearty beef stew with vegetables, wine, and herbs, simmered in a pressure cooker.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 20 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and mushroom match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,231 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Combine the essence, flour, and beef cubes in a bowl, then toss to coat well.

  2. Add the oil to a pressure cooker and heat over medium‑high heat until hot.

  3. Add the meat and cook, turning occasionally, until evenly brown, about 5 minutes.

  4. Transfer the meat to a plate and set it aside.

Build the stew

  1. Add the onion, celery, salt, pepper, and mushrooms, then cook, stirring, until the vegetables are wilted, about 3 minutes.

  2. Add the browned meat, garlic, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, red wine, and broth.

  3. Cover the pressure cooker. Cook for 20 minutes, turning down heat once a steady stream of steam is emitted from the valve.

  4. Add the parsnips, turnips, and collard greens, stir well, and replace the lid. Cook an additional 20 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Garnish with chopped parsley.

  2. Serve over rice.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Beef + mushroomtop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,231 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Celery + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together16,001 recipes

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

  3. Beef + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,091 recipes

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

  4. Olive + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  5. Beef + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned 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

Beef stew meat
Provides the main protein; browning it first builds savory flavor in the stew.
All-purpose flour
Coats the beef so it browns well and helps thicken the cooking liquid.
Dry red wine
Adds acidity and depth, and helps lift browned bits from the pot.
Beef broth
Forms the cooking liquid that gives the stew body and savory flavor.
Parsnips
Add sweetness and body as they soften in the pressure-cooked liquid.
Turnips
Add a mildly sharp, earthy flavor and soften into the stew.

The step that matters

Browning the beef. Searing the floured beef in hot oil in batches-free contact creates Maillard browning, which gives the stew its deep savory flavor. Crowding the pot or stirring too early steams the meat instead.

Flavor stand-ins for the celery

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

  1. Garlicbetter flavor fit
  2. Thymebetter flavor fit
  3. Rosemaryabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, beef, meat, olive, onion, pepper, mushroom. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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