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To Pry Beef Collops

Thin slices of beef cooked with butter and onions in a covered pan, with hot water and ketchup added.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

To Pry Beef Collops

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a pan, combine the thinly sliced beef, butter, and sliced onions.

  2. Cover the pan and cook until the meat is sufficiently cooked.

  3. Add a little hot water and ketchup to the pan.

  4. Ensure the meat is always covered with liquid while cooking.

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.

  1. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,847 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  4. Onion + ketchuptop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,997 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Beef + ketchuptop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the main protein; thin slices cook quickly and stay tender.
Butter
Adds fat for frying and richness to the pan juices.
Onions
Soften and sweeten as they cook, adding savoury depth to the sauce.
Ketchup
Adds sweetness and acidity, shaping the flavour of the cooking liquid.

The step that matters

Keep the meat covered with liquid while cooking. If the liquid evaporates, the beef can dry out and toughen on the hot pan. Keeping it moist helps the slices stay tender while the sugars and juices build a sauce.

“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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