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 ↓
Fresh Beef Soup for One Hundred Men
Ingredients
Directions
Place the beef pieces in a large pot with the water.
Add the mixed vegetables, salt, and pepper.
Bring to a boil, then simmer for 3 hours.
Skim off the fat and serve.
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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Beef + ricetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,265 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Pepper + ricetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef
- Provides savory flavor and meaty body, becoming tender during long simmering.
- Mixed vegetables
- Add sweetness, aroma, and body to the broth.
- Rice
- Thickens the soup as its starch is released into the simmering liquid.
The step that matters
Simmer gently for 3 hours. Long, gentle simmering breaks down the beef's connective tissue so it becomes tender. A hard, rolling boil toughens the meat and makes the broth cloudy and greasy, which is why the fat is skimmed off afterward.
“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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