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Stewed Slices of Cold Beef with Green Peas

A stew of cold roasted beef slices simmered with green peas, cabbage lettuce, onion, butter, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and a butter‑flour thickener.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 622 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Stewed Slices of Cold Beef with Green Peas

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a lined saucepan, combine peas and sliced cabbage-lettuce.

  2. Pour in broth and simmer gently for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

  3. Add seasoned slices of cold beef.

  4. Brown sliced onion in butter.

  5. Simmer for an additional 1 hour and 30 minutes.

  6. Stir in butter and flour mixture, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard, then boil quickly.

  7. Serve hot.

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. Cabbage + lettucetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together622 recipes

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

  2. Peas + lettucetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,293 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  3. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Cabbage + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,001 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

What each ingredient does

Young green peas
Form the bulk of the stew and give it its sweet, vegetal flavor.
Cabbage-lettuce
Adds soft, leafy body and moisture as it cooks down into the broth.
Roasted beef
Supplies the meaty flavor and substance of the stew.
Butter and flour mixture
Thickens the broth into a smooth, cohesive sauce when stirred in and boiled.
Worcestershire sauce
Adds savory, tangy depth that rounds out the beef flavor.

The step that matters

Boil quickly after adding the butter and flour mixture. Flour only thickens fully once it reaches a boil, where starch granules swell and set. Stirring in the mixture and boiling briefly ensures a smooth sauce rather than a raw, floury taste or lumps.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, lettuce, beef, pepper, onion, butter, sauce):

  1. Sesamefits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, lettuce, beef, pepper, onion, butter, sauce. 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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