Why it works: Vinegar and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,226 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Modern Cookery
Ingredients
Directions
Heat a gentle fire and cook until the thickening is a deep yellow brown.
Add the minced rump steak and keep it well separated with a fork until hot.
Gradually pour in the boiling water and stew the collops gently for 10 minutes.
If desired, add a small quantity of minced onion, eschalot, or garlic at the beginning.
Before serving, stir in catsup, chili vinegar, or lemon juice to taste.
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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Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,226 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rump steak
- Provides the meat that gives the collops their body and savoury, beefy flavour.
- Boiling water
- Forms the liquid that stews the meat and turns the thickening into a sauce.
- Catsup, chili vinegar, or lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich meat and sauce just before serving.
- Minced onion, eschalot, or garlic
- Adds aromatic flavour that deepens the savoury character of the dish.
The step that matters
Gradually pour in the boiling water. Adding the hot liquid slowly while the thickening is hot lets it disperse evenly. Pouring it all at once can trap dry clumps of thickening that stay lumpy and do not fully hydrate and smooth out.
“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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