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Brunswick Stew

A hearty stew of beef, bread, potatoes, beans, corn, tomatoes, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Beans and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,713 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Brunswick Stew

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large pot, place the shank of beef and cover with water to make soup.

  2. Cook the beef for several hours until tender.

  3. Remove the shank, shred the meat, and discard bones and gristle.

  4. Return the shredded meat to the pot and add the mashed potatoes, butter beans, corn, tomatoes, and bread.

  5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  6. Just before serving, stir in the butter.

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. Beans + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

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

  2. Beans + corntop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,211 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Potato + corntop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together938 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Potato + beanstop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together655 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  5. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 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 shank
Gives the broth its meaty flavor as it cooks down into soup.
Potatoes
Mashed into the stew, they thicken the liquid and add body.
Butter beans
Hold their shape and add creamy texture and substance to the stew.
Corn
Adds sweetness and pops of texture to the stew.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and fresh flavor that brightens the rich broth.
Bread
Soaks up liquid and helps thicken the stew.

The step that matters

Cook the beef until tender. Collagen in the shank breaks down slowly over long, gentle simmering, turning tough meat tender and enriching the broth. Rushing this leaves the meat chewy and the soup thin.

“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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