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To Mince Beef

A dish of minced beef simmered in onion gravy, seasoned with pepper and salt, finished with vinegar and served with bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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 ↓

To Mince Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Shred the underdone beef and some fat finely.

Make the gravy

  1. In a small saucepan, combine onion, water, pepper, and salt; boil until the onion is soft.

  2. Add beef gravy and minced beef; heat for a few minutes without boiling.

  3. Mix in vinegar before serving.

Serve

  1. Serve in a small hot dish with slices of bread.

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

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

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Underdone beef
Provides the main body and meaty texture of the dish.
Beef gravy
Adds moisture and savoury beefy flavour to the mince.
Onion or shallot
Adds mild sweetness and aroma as it softens in the water.
Vinegar
Adds a sharp acidity that brightens the rich beef flavour.

The step that matters

Heat without boiling. Once the minced beef is added with the gravy, boiling can toughen the meat and make it dry and grainy. Gentle heat for a few minutes keeps it tender and juicy.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, vinegar, bread, butter):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Onionthe original
  4. Potatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, vinegar, bread, butter. 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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