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 ↓
Stewed Rump of Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the rump of beef into pieces.
Brown the pieces in a pot.
Add chopped onions and cover with water.
Simmer until the beef is tender.
Season to taste before serving.
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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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
- Rump of beef
- Provides the main protein, which becomes tender with slow simmering.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and aroma as they soften into the stew.
The step that matters
Brown the beef pieces in the pot. Browning creates flavour through the Maillard reaction, which gives the stew a deeper, savoury taste. Pieces that are crowded or wet will steam instead of browning, so brown them in batches for the best results.
“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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