Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Beef En Miroton
Ingredients
Directions
Cut thin slices of cold roast beef.
Melt butter in a frying pan.
Add sliced onions and beef to the pan and turn the pan frequently.
Mix in a little broth, salt, and pepper.
Cook until heated through and serve hot.
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 + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,847 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold roast beef
- Forms the main body of the dish and is gently reheated in the sauce.
- Butter
- Fat that carries heat evenly through the pan and adds richness to the onions and beef.
- Onions
- Soften and sweeten as they cook, adding savory depth to the dish.
- Broth
- Adds moisture and liquid so the beef stays tender while it heats.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, pepper):
- Potatofits about as well
- Onionthe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Tomatofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, pepper. 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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