Why it works: Meat and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,777 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Favourite Broth
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the sago in a small amount of water until clear.
Dissolve the meat or vegetable extract in a cup of boiling water.
Strain the cooked sago into the broth, season with pepper and salt, and stir in the yolk of an egg if desired.
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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Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,777 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Meat + eggtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,432 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sago
- Thickens the broth as its starch cooks and turns it clear and slightly viscous.
- Meat or vegetable extract
- Provides the concentrated savoury flavour that forms the body of the broth.
- Egg yolk
- Adds richness and body, enriching the broth's texture and mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Boil the sago until clear. Sago starch must be fully cooked until the grains turn translucent; undercooked sago stays chalky and tastes raw. Cooking gelatinises the starch, which thickens the liquid evenly.
“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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