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Stewed Rump

A stew of beef rump simmered with water, beer, port wine, vinegar, ketchup, herbs, onions, cloves, and cayenne.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Stewed Rump

Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Stewed Rump

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Half roast the rump of beef.

  2. Place it in a large pot with water, small beer, port wine, salt, vinegar, ketchup, sweet herbs, onions, cloves, and cayenne.

  3. Cover the pot tightly and simmer until the meat is tender.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Tarragon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together528 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Tarragon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Tarragon + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together326 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beef rump (in the method)
Provides the main protein; slow simmering breaks down connective tissue so it becomes tender.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth of flavour to the braising liquid.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and helps balance the rich liquid.
Ketchup
Contributes sweetness, tomato acidity and savoury depth to the sauce.

The step that matters

Covering the pot and simmering gently. A tightly covered pot at a gentle simmer keeps moisture in and heat even, so the collagen in the beef converts slowly to gelatin instead of the meat drying out or toughening.

Swap the basil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beer, port wine, vinegar, ketchup, tarragon, parsley, thyme):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Winter savoryfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Basilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beer, port wine, vinegar, ketchup, tarragon, parsley, thyme. 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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