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 ↓
Soups
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the meat
Break the bones of the shin of beef.
Place the beef, cow-heel, veal knuckles, and bones in a stewpan.
Add enough water to barely cover the meat.
Add three onions and seasoning to taste.
Stew the meat until it is tender and can be pulled apart.
Strain and clarify
Strain the mixture and cool it in the coldest place available.
Once cold, remove the fat from the top.
Boil the strained soup in a stewpan without a lid over high heat for at least 8 hours, stirring frequently.
Pour the soup into a pan and let it sit for 24 hours.
Transfer the soup to a large basin.
Reduce and set
Boil water in the stewpan to surround the basin without bubbling into it.
Keep the water boiling until it reduces to a good consistency.
Pour the finished soup into small jelly pots or saucers to cool and form cakes.
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 + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + vealtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,784 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Beef + meattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,533 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Onion + meattop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,364 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Veal + oniontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,841 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef
- Provides the main meaty flavour and gelatin as it stews slowly in water.
- Shin of beef
- Bones and connective tissue release gelatin, giving the soup body and a firm set.
- Cow-heel
- Rich in collagen, which breaks down into gelatin to thicken and set the soup.
- Veal knuckles
- Bones and connective tissue add gelatin and a mild, delicate savoury depth.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and aromatic flavour to the broth as they cook down.
The step that matters
Keeping the soup at a gentle reduction in the basin. Boiling water around the basin heats the soup gently. Vigorous boiling would scorch the gelatin-rich broth or make it cloudy, so the water must stay boiling without bubbling into the basin.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, veal, meat):
- Onionthe original
- Potatofits about as well
- Tomatofits about as well
- Carrotfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, meat. 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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