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Dried Beef with Cheese and Tomatoes

A sautéed dish of dried beef, tomatoes, cheese, onion juice, cayenne pepper, butter, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Dried Beef with Cheese and Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the dried beef finely.

  2. In a bowl, combine the chopped beef, tomatoes, grated cheese, onion juice, and cayenne pepper.

Cook and serve

  1. Melt the butter in a pan.

  2. Add the mixture to the melted butter and heat until hot.

  3. Stir in the beaten eggs and cook until creamy, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan.

  4. Serve warm.

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.

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

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

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,448 recipes

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

  4. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  5. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Dried beef
Provides the salty, savory meat flavor that anchors the dish.
Eggs
Set as they cook, binding the mixture into a soft, creamy texture.
Grated cheese
Melts into the hot mixture, adding richness and a creamy, binding texture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and helps keep the mixture from sticking to the pan.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and a gentle acidity that brightens the savory flavors.

The step that matters

Stir in the beaten eggs and cook until creamy. Eggs set quickly over direct heat and can turn grainy or stick and scorch. Constant stirring and scraping the pan bottom keep the proteins setting evenly, producing a smooth, creamy texture.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, tomato, cheese, pepper, butter, egg):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, tomato, cheese, pepper, butter, egg. 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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