Why it works: Pepper and beef 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 ↓
Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cut the peppers in half, remove seeds and membranes, and par-boil them.
Stuff and bake
Mix the minced roast beef with the boiled rice and stuff the peppers.
Cover the stuffed peppers with buttered breadcrumbs.
Place the peppers in a baking pan with ½ inch of water.
Bake for 20 minutes, basting occasionally with melted butter.
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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Pepper + beeftop 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).
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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,847 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bell peppers
- Hold the filling and soften as they cook, becoming tender and sweet.
- Roast beef
- Provides the savory, meaty filling that gives the dish its main flavor.
- Boiled rice
- Bulks out the filling and absorbs juices, keeping it moist rather than dense.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the breadcrumbs brown while basting the peppers.
- Breadcrumbs
- Form a crisp, golden topping that browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Par-boil the peppers before stuffing. Raw pepper walls stay firm and can stay tough or crunchy in a 20-minute bake. Par-boiling softens the flesh so it becomes tender while the filling heats through.
“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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