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Crock Pot Beef Stew

A stew of beef, carrots, onions, celery, tomatoes, and tapioca cooked in a crockpot.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Crock Pot Beef Stew

4–8
Time12 hours on low or 5 to 6 hours on high

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Trim all fat from meat.

Cook and serve

  1. Put all ingredients in crockpot; mix thoroughly.

  2. Cover and cook on low 12 hours or on high 5 to 6 hours.

  3. Remove bay leaves before serving.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

369Calories
30 gProtein
16 gFat
27 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 11 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cloves1 tsp ground (2g)7
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Stewnot 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 Wikibooks Cookbook.

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  3. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Stew beef
Provides the main protein, which becomes tender as its connective tissue breaks down during long, slow cooking.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and liquid, building the savoury base of the stew.
Quick-cooking tapioca
Absorbs liquid as it cooks, thickening the stew.
Onion
Adds aroma and sweetness as it softens in the liquid.

The step that matters

Cook on low 12 hours or on high 5 to 6 hours. Low and high settings deliver heat at different rates, so the times are not interchangeable. Enough time lets the beef's connective tissue break down into tender meat and lets the tapioca fully hydrate and thicken the stew.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, onion, celery, tomato, pepper):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, onion, celery, tomato, 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.

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