Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Beef Alamode
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beef
Cut the beef into pieces of about ¼ pound each.
In a large saucepan, heat the beef dripping over medium heat.
Add the chopped onions and cook until hot.
Dredge the beef pieces in flour and add them to the saucepan.
Stir well for 8‑10 minutes, adding more flour as needed until the meat is browned.
Stew and serve
Gradually add boiling water to cover the meat, stirring well.
Add the allspice, black pepper, and bay leaves.
Cover and let it stew gently over low heat for 3 hours.
About 15 minutes before serving, stir in the mushroom ketchup.
Ensure the meat is tender before serving in a tureen.
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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Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,232 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,395 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,626 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef
- Provides the meat that becomes tender and rich through long, gentle stewing.
- Flour
- Dredging coats the meat, helping it brown and thickening the stewing liquid.
- Beef dripping
- Fat for browning the meat and carrying the flavour of the stew.
- Onions
- Soften and sweeten as they cook, adding savoury depth to the stew.
- Mushroom ketchup
- Adds concentrated savoury, umami flavour to the stewing liquid.
The step that matters
Stewing until the meat is tender. Beef from tougher cuts needs a long, gentle simmer so its connective tissue breaks down. Cooking too hard or too briefly leaves the meat tough and dry.
Swap the allspice
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, flour, meat, pepper, mushroom, ketchup):
- Thymefits better
- Garlicfits better
- Celeryfits better
- Allspicethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, flour, meat, pepper, mushroom, ketchup. 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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