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 ↓
Beef-tea
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beef
Cut the beef into small pieces about the size of hazel nuts.
Simmer
Place the beef in a clean saucepan and add 4 cups of cold water and ¼ teaspoon of salt.
Bring the mixture to a boil, skimming off any fat and scum before it boils.
Reduce the heat and let it simmer slowly for 2 hours until the liquid reduces to 2 cups.
Strain and serve
Strain the beef tea and let it cool, removing any fat from the surface before reheating.
To reheat, place the desired amount in a cup and set the cup in a saucepan of boiling water.
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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Clove + oniontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,901 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,847 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Beef + clovetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,462 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Solid beef
- Supplies the meat flavour and dissolves into the liquid as it simmers slowly.
- Cold water
- Acts as the cooking liquid that extracts flavour from the beef over the long simmer.
The step that matters
Skimming fat and scum before the boil. Skimming as the liquid first heats removes fat and impurities that would otherwise cloud the tea and give it a greasy taste. Starting with cold water lets these rise gradually to the surface where they can be lifted off.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, onion):
- Garlicfits better
- Thymefits better
- Pepperfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, onion. 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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