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 ↓
Beef Tea
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beef
Chop the beef very fine and soak it in cold water for at least 1 hour, preferably 2 hours.
Make the beef tea
Put the beef and soaking water over the fire and slowly bring it to a boil.
Strain the mixture through a sieve to retain the meat bits and allow the liquid to pass through.
Cook the grain and serve
To increase nutrition, cook the sago, rice, or pearl barley in ½ pint of cold water over gentle heat, stirring often.
Once the beef tea is done, add the cooked grain, season, 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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Rice + peppertop 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
- Lean beef
- Provides the flavour and protein that the liquid carries once soaked and simmered.
- Sago, rice, or pearl barley
- Thickens the finished drink slightly and adds body as the starch cooks.
The step that matters
Slowly bringing the beef and water to a boil. Heating gently lets the flavour and juices move from the meat into the water. Rapid boiling toughens the meat and can make the liquid cloudy.
“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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