Why it works: Celery and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Beef Broth
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the gravy
Set the tin of beef in a saucepan surrounded by hot water for 10 minutes.
Open the tin and strain the gravy into a bowl.
Carefully turn the meat out onto a sieve and pour hot water over it to catch the liquid in a bowl below.
Add the water to the gravy in the bowl and skim off any fat.
Make the broth
Melt the butter in a stewpan over low heat, then add the minced onions and fry until yellow.
Moisten the onions with the gravy, bring to a boil, season with spiced salt, and add essence of celery.
Simmer for 30 minutes and strain to serve as broth.
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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Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,377 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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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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Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 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
- Beef
- Provides the main meaty flavor and the body of the broth.
- Butter
- Adds fat and rich flavor when used to soften the onions.
- Minced onions
- Add sweetness and aroma as they fry to yellow.
The step that matters
Skimming the fat from the gravy. Fat that is not removed before simmering can float on the broth and make it greasy. Removing it while the liquid is still warm leaves a cleaner, clearer broth.
Swap the tomato
The recipe marks tomato as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, onion, celery, egg, cheese, sauce):
- Potatofits about as well
- Mustardfits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, onion, celery, egg, cheese, 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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