Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Boiled Rump-steaks with Onion Gravy
Ingredients
Directions
In a quart stew-pan, combine the onions and water. Cover and set over low heat until the water evaporates and the onions are slightly browned.
Add the broth and boil the onions until tender. Strain the broth and chop the onions finely.
Season the chopped onions with mushroom ketchup, pepper, and salt. Add the onions back to the broth and simmer gently for 5 minutes.
Pour the onion gravy over the boiled rump steak and serve.
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 + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,232 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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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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Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,626 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 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, mushroom, ketchup, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Carrotfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, mushroom, ketchup, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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