Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Beef Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Break the beef bones and place them in a large pot with cold water.
Simmer for one hour, skimming off any scum that rises.
Add sliced Irish potatoes, rice or barley, and onion slices.
Season with salt and pepper, and boil until the meat is in fragments.
Skim off the grease and set it aside for cooking.
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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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + ricetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together851 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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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 + potatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,052 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 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
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, rice, pepper):
- Tomatofits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Carrotfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, rice, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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