Name: Hashed Beef with Dumplings
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked beef, chopped; 1 onion, chopped; 2 tablespoons butter; 1 cup beef broth; Salt and pepper to taste; Dumplings (prepared according to package instructions)

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 ↓

Hashed Beef with Dumplings

Ingredients

2 cups cooked beef, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup beef broth
Salt and pepper to taste
Dumplings (prepared according to package instructions)

Directions

Make the hash

In a skillet, melt butter over medium heat.
Add chopped onion and sauté until translucent.
Stir in the chopped beef and cook until heated through.
Pour in the beef broth and season with salt and pepper.

Serve

Prepare dumplings according to package instructions.
Serve the dumplings on top of the hashed beef.

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.

Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together42,912 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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

Cooked beef: Forms the main body of the hash and provides its savory meaty flavor.
Onion: Adds sweetness and aroma as it softens and turns translucent in the butter.
Butter: Adds fat for sautéing the onion and carries flavor through the skillet.
Beef broth: Adds moisture and liquid that binds the chopped beef and onion together.