Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 17,091 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
In a stewpan, combine the grated bacon, chopped beef suet, and butter.
Add the lemon juice, bay leaves, cloves, diced carrots, diced onions, and water.
Simmer gently, stirring often, until the fat is melted and the water evaporates.
Pour in more liquid than needed for the dish to be cooked.
Boil softly until all ingredients release their flavors.
Skim off any impurities, add salt if needed, and strain for use.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Beef + oniontop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,091 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Clove + carrottop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,916 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Carrot + oniontop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together21,599 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + carrottop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,604 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Lemon + carrottop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,350 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, clove, carrot, onion):
- Orangebetter flavor fit
- Grapebetter flavor fit
- Applebetter flavor fit
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, clove, carrot, onion. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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