Why it works: Carrot and parsnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,097 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓
Boiled Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Place the beef in a pot with cold water.
Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to let it simmer until the beef is cooked through.
Avoid boiling the beef to prevent ruining its appearance and taste.
For serving cold, let the beef cool in the cooking liquid, then drain and set aside.
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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Carrot + parsniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,097 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Carrot + tomatotop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,606 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,606 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Parsnip + tomatotop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together134 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
Swap the parsnip
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, tomato, ketchup):
- Capsicumfits better
- Onionfits better
- Turnipfits better
- Parsnipthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, tomato, ketchup. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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