Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 68,463 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Also mentioned in the method: walnut
Directions
Cure the meat
Rub in and sprinkle either mixture on 14 lbs of meat.
Keep the meat in an earthenware pan or a deep wooden tray.
Turn the meat twice a week during 3 weeks.
Bind the beef tightly with coarse linen tape.
Hang the beef in a kitchen with a constant fire for 3 weeks.
For pork, hams, and bacon, use double the salting mixture and cure similarly.
If not smoke-dried, take the meat down from hanging after 3 or 4 weeks and keep it in boxes or tubs with dry oat-husks.
Make the stew
Cut the beef into rather large pieces.
Put the beef pieces into a stewpan with sliced onions.
Season well with pepper, salt, and mixed spices.
Pour over about 1/2 pint of boiling water and gravy in the above proportion.
Let the stew gently for about 2 hours.
Serve with pickled walnuts, gherkins, or capers, just warmed in the gravy.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Onion + peppertop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together68,463 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 (in the method)
- Is the main meat that is cured, then stewed until tender.
- Salt
- Draws out moisture and preserves the meat during the curing period.
- Gravy
- Adds savoury depth and moisture to the stewing liquid.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and aroma as they soften in the stew.
The step that matters
Turning the meat during curing. Turning the meat twice a week keeps the brine evenly distributed so that every part of the meat cures uniformly rather than unevenly.
“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.
You might also like
Illustration
Illustration
Illustration
IllustrationThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.