Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Pot -au- Feu
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
In a large pot, combine the beef and water.
Add the herbs, salt, pepper, onions, carrots, turnips, and peppercorns.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low.
Simmer and serve
Simmer for five hours, skimming off any foam that rises to the surface.
Serve hot.
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.
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Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,585 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Pepper + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 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
- Leg of beef
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender during long, slow simmering.
- Onions
- Add aromatic sweetness and depth to the broth as they cook.
- Carrots
- Contribute natural sweetness and body to the broth.
- Turnips
- Add mild sweetness and earthy flavor to the broth as they soften.
The step that matters
Skimming the foam while simmering. Foam rising during simmering carries impurities and proteins from the meat. Removing it keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting, and prevents bitterness.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, carrot, turnip):
- Parsnipfits better
- Leekfits better
- Spinachfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, carrot, turnip. 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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