Name: To Hash Beef, &C.
Ingredients: 1½ pints broth or water; 1 ounce mushroom catsup or 1 large tablespoonful; gravy saved from the beef; ¼ ounce onion, sliced very fine; 1 large tablespoonful flour

Why it works: Mushroom and beef 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 ↓

To Hash Beef, &C.

Ingredients

1½ pints broth or water
1 ounce mushroom catsup or 1 large tablespoonful
gravy saved from the beef
¼ ounce onion, sliced very fine
1 large tablespoonful flour

Directions

In a stewpan, combine the broth or water, mushroom catsup, and saved gravy.
Add the sliced onion and boil for about 10 minutes.
In a basin, mix the flour with a little water to form a paste.
Gradually add the paste to the stewpan, stirring until well combined.
Simmer gently until the mixture is warmed through.

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.

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.

Mushroom + beeftop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,232 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mushroom + oniontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,626 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Onion + flourtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together32,460 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Mushroom + flourtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,253 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).