Why it works: Turnip and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Braised Beef
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the meat
Skewer and tie the meat.
Fry the meat in butter for about 15 minutes.
Braise
Place the meat in a large stew pot and add hot stock to come within 1 inch of the top of the meat.
Add peeled onions and cut vegetables in fancy shapes.
Simmer gently in the oven at 350°F (175°C) for 2 to 3 hours.
Finish the gravy and serve
Remove the meat and thicken the gravy with flour.
Season and strain the gravy around the meat, garnishing with the vegetables.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,585 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 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
- Flat ribs of beef
- Slow braising turns the tough connective tissue tender and rich.
- Butter
- Frying in butter browns the surface of the meat and adds richness.
- Stock
- Provides the liquid that gently cooks the meat and forms the base of the gravy.
- Flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid into a smooth gravy.
- Onions
- Release sweetness and aroma into the braising liquid as they cook.
The step that matters
Simmer gently rather than boil. A gentle simmer lets the connective tissue in the beef break down slowly into tender meat. A rapid boil toughens the surface fibres and can make the gravy cloudy and the meat dry.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, turnip, carrot, pepper, butter, flour):
- Leekfits better
- Parsnipfits better
- Okrafits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, turnip, carrot, pepper, butter, flour. 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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