Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Stew the beef gently in water for 1 hour.
Add onions, tomato, vegetable marrows, and green peas.
Season with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Stew the mixture for 2 more hours.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + peastop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,058 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
- Shin of beef
- Provides rich flavour and collagen that softens into a tender, savoury broth during long stewing.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and aromatic depth as they soften into the broth.
- Tomato
- Adds acidity and body to the broth as it breaks down.
- Vegetable marrows
- Soften during stewing and contribute moisture and mild sweetness to the soup.
- Green peas
- Add fresh, sweet flavour and a soft texture to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Stew the beef gently in water for 1 hour.. Gentle heat lets collagen in the shin slowly convert to gelatin, making the meat tender and enriching the broth. Boiling hard toughens the meat and clouds the liquid.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, tomato, pepper):
- Beansfits better
- Black-eyed peafits better
- Chickpeafits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, tomato, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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