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Mock Chile Con Carne Soup

A hearty beef and bean soup with tomatoes, onions, potatoes, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mock Chile Con Carne Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Take twenty-five cents worth of ground beef and a piece of suet.

  2. Start in plenty of water.

Cook the soup

  1. Add one can of tomatoes.

  2. Add two large onions.

  3. Add one can of kidney beans.

  4. Add four large potatoes.

  5. When soup is cooked, add a five-cent bottle of catsup, a bay leaf, a few cloves, and a dash of red pepper.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

478Calories
32 gProtein
16 gFat
52 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2

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

By Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [from old catalog]. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

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

  4. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  5. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 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
Provides the main savoury meat flavour and body to the soup.
Suet
Adds fat that carries flavour and gives the soup richness.
Potatoes
Soften during cooking, adding starch that slightly thickens the soup.
Onions
Soften and turn sweet as they cook, adding aroma and depth.

Swap the clove

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, beef, onion, potato. 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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