Why it works: Flour and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Chipped Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and cook
Chop the beef and suet very fine.
Cover with cold water and cook slowly for 2 hours.
Season to taste.
Just before removing from heat, dredge in a little flour and let it boil up.
Serve
Serve hot over slices of toast, with poached eggs on top if desired.
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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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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).
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Beef + eggtop 31% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 meat body and flavour that the dish is built around.
- Suet
- Adds fat that gives richness and a smoother mouthfeel to the cooked meat.
- Flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid so it becomes a light gravy.
The step that matters
Dredging with flour before boiling up. Flour sprinkled in at the end must be stirred in and brought to a boil so it hydrates and thickens the liquid. Adding it too early or in clumps can leave lumps or a pasty taste.
“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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