Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Plain Drawn Beef-Gravy
Ingredients
Directions
Place the beef bones in a jar.
Set the jar in a saucepan of water over medium heat.
Simmer for 3 to 4 hours.
Leave the jar in a cool place overnight.
Remove the layer of fat from the top.
Arrange the meat in nice pieces on a serving dish.
Season with additional pepper, salt, and pimento if needed.
Pour some gravy over the meat and reserve the rest for serving.
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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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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