Name: Chili Cox Carxe
Ingredients: 4 pounds beef ribs, cut small; 1 can tomatoes; 1 large carrot, chopped; 1 large onion, chopped; 1 tablespoon vinegar; 2 tablespoons sugar; 1 teaspoon chili powder (or cayenne pepper to taste); salt to taste

Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Chili Cox Carxe

Ingredients

Directions

Boil the beef ribs in water until tender.
Add the tomatoes, carrot, onion, vinegar, sugar, chili powder, and salt.
Boil all ingredients together until heated through.
Serve hot.

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.

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.

Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,606 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 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 ribs: Provide the main protein, which becomes tender through long simmering in water.
Tomatoes: Add moisture and acidity that give the chili its body and savory base.
Onion: Adds aromatic sweetness and depth as it softens into the sauce.
Sugar: Balances the acidity of the tomatoes and vinegar with a touch of sweetness.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the richness of the meat.
Chili powder: Provides the characteristic chili flavor and gentle heat.

Swap the onion

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

Capsicumfits better
Potatofits about as well
Cucumberfits about as well
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, tomato, carrot, vinegar, sugar, 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.