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Hot & Spicy Italian Drip Beef

This is a yummy play on the old drip beef recipe my friend Hy shared with me years ago, and I made it last week as I was usin...

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Why it works: Beef and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 5,445 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 16
Prep5 min
Cook4 hr

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Pat the chuck roasts dry and season all over with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

  2. Sear the roasts about 3 to 4 minutes per side until well browned, then transfer them to a 6-quart slow cooker.

  3. Pour the beef stock and crushed tomatoes into the skillet, scrape up the browned bits, and bring to a simmer. Pour over the roasts.

  4. Add the pepperoncinis with their juice, the drained hot cherry peppers, and both jars of pimentos, drained, around the meat. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours (240 minutes), until the beef is fork-tender.

  5. Check that the thickest part of the meat reaches at least 145°F (63°C) and rest it 3 minutes; it should be tender enough to shred. Shred the beef with two forks and stir it back into the juices.

  6. Toast the rolls, spread them with butter if using, and fill with the drip beef. Top with a slice of provolone or mozzarella and serve.

By thepioneerwoman. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Beef + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,445 recipes

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

  2. Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,164 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Tomato + cherrytop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,110 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Olive + mozzarella cheesetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,723 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).

  5. Tomato + mozzarella cheesetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the cherry

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, pepper, beef, tomato, mozzarella cheese):

  1. Avocadoabout as good a flavor fit
  2. Cherrythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, pepper, beef, tomato, mozzarella cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).