Why it works: Shallot and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,081 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Beef Tea
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Place the beef pieces in a pot and cover with cold water.
For added flavor, include peppercorns and minced shallot.
Cook
Simmer for 1 hour.
Alternatively, place beef in a jar with a lid and submerge in a pot of water.
Cook in the oven at 300°F (150°C) for 1-2 hours.
Alternatively, boil in water for 1.5 hours.
Finish
Thicken the beef tea with boiled flour or arrow-root if desired.
For a richer flavor, beat an egg yolk in a cup and pour the hot broth over it.
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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Shallot + flourtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,081 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Beef + shallottop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,103 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Shallot + eggtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,380 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Beef + flourtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,677 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
What each ingredient does
- Beef
- Provides the meat flavor and gelatin that give the broth its body and savoriness.
- Boiled flour or arrow-root
- Thickens the liquid by swelling with heat so it becomes more viscous.
- Egg yolk
- Adds richness and body, enriching the broth's texture when stirred in hot liquid.
The step that matters
Pouring hot broth over the egg yolk. Adding hot liquid to an egg yolk gradually, while beating, tempers it. Pouring too fast or without stirring can scramble the yolk instead of smoothly enriching the broth.
Swap the shallot
The recipe marks shallot as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, flour, egg):
- Chivefits better
- Leekfits about as well
- Shallotthe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, flour, egg. 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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