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 ↓
Game Soups
Ingredients
Directions
Combine flour with other ingredients to thicken the soup.
Add cold stock to form a stiff paste.
Moisten occasionally with beef broth.
Pass the mixture through a sieve.
Add the gravy from the stewed heart and enough beef broth to reach desired quantity.
Boil the mixture and season with cayenne and salt.
If too thin, add flour and butter until it reaches a creamy consistency.
Stir in a spoonful of sugar and a splash of port wine for extra flavor.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + port winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,499 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Beef + port winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together626 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
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