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 ↓
Broth of Beef, Mutton, and Veal
Ingredients
Directions
Put the beef, veal, mutton, herbs, and peppercorns into a large saucepan.
Add 5 quarts of water and simmer until reduced to 3 quarts.
If desired, add an onion for flavor.
Let the broth cool.
Remove the fat.
Place a piece of clean blotting paper on the broth in the basin.
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 + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + muttontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,373 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Beef + vealtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,784 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Veal + muttontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,394 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
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Veal + oniontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,841 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
- Lean beef
- Provides the main meaty flavor and dissolves gelatin into the broth as it simmers.
- Scrag of veal
- Adds body and gelatin from the bones and connective tissue, giving the broth more richness.
- Scrag of mutton
- Adds a deeper, richer meat flavor and more body to the broth.
Swap the onion
The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, veal, mutton):
- Onionthe original
- Tomatofits about as well
- Carrotfits about as well
- Leekfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, mutton. 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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