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A Good English Stew

A hearty beef stew simmered with lemon rind, mushroom ketchup, and optional wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Ketchup and sauce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,099 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

A Good English Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Braise the beef

  1. Combine beef and broth in a large pot.

  2. Bring to a boil.

  3. Add salt and cayenne pepper.

  4. Reduce heat to simmer for 2 hours.

  5. Stir in grated lemon rind.

  6. Simmer for another 30 minutes.

Thicken and serve

  1. Mix rice flour with mushroom ketchup, lemon juice, and soy sauce until smooth, then add the mixture to the pot.

  2. Cook for 15 minutes until thickened.

  3. Optionally add port or white wine for extra flavor.

  4. 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. Ketchup + saucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,099 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  4. Rice + mushroomtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,515 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

Rump of beef
Slow simmering breaks down connective tissue, leaving the meat tender and moist.
Rice flour
Starch swells in the hot liquid to thicken the stew into a smooth gravy.
Mushroom ketchup
Adds deep savoury, umami flavour that rounds out the gravy.
Lemon rind
Lemon oil from the zest adds bright aroma that lifts the rich beef.
Soy sauce
Adds salty, savoury depth that supports the meaty flavour.

The step that matters

Thickening the gravy. Rice flour must be mixed smooth with the condiments before going into the pot, otherwise it clumps. Starch only thickens fully once it is heated and simmered, so the gravy needs the full 15 minutes to reach its final body.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, rice, flour, mushroom, ketchup, sauce):

  1. Limefits about as well
  2. Avocadofits about as well
  3. Lemonthe original
  4. Coconutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, rice, flour, mushroom, ketchup, 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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