Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Fricasseed Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the beef
Cook the beef in enough water to cover it until very tender.
Season the beef with salt and pepper when it is about half done.
If the water does not boil away quickly, drain it off.
Make the sauce and serve
Let the beef fry in its fat for 10 minutes.
Mix the flour with the fat.
Pour the mixture on the hot juices from the meat.
Serve the beef with the sauce.
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 + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Beef + flourtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,677 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Beef and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,677 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef
- Provides the main substance; long gentle cooking in water makes it very tender.
- Flour
- Mixed with the fat to thicken the hot meat juices into a sauce.
- Fat
- Rendered from the beef, it carries flavour and binds with the flour for the sauce.
The step that matters
Pouring the flour and fat mixture onto the hot juices. Flour must be cooked in hot fat and liquid so its starch swells and thickens the sauce smoothly; adding it to cold liquid or unevenly can cause lumps.
“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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