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Beef, Curried

A slow‑cooked beef curry served over rice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Beef, Curried

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Cut the beef into slices about 1 inch thick and 1 inch square.

  2. Melt the butter or dripping in a stewpan and fry the meat quickly and lightly.

  3. Remove the meat to a plate, then add the onion, flour, and curry powder to the pan and fry gently for about 10 minutes.

Make the curry

  1. Add the stock, curry paste, sliced apple, and salt to taste, then return the meat to the pan.

  2. Cover closely and cook gently for about 1½ hours.

  3. Cook the rice according to package instructions, then drain and dry thoroughly.

Finish and serve

  1. When the meat is done, transfer it to a hot dish, season the sauce to taste, add the lemon juice, and strain the sauce over the meat.

  2. Serve the rice separately.

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. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Beef + ricetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,265 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  4. Lemon + ricetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,366 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Beef
Lean, tender meat that becomes more tender and flavourful during slow, gentle cooking.
Flour
Thickens the sauce as it fries with the onion and curry powder, giving body to the gravy.
Curry powder
Provides the spiced aroma and flavour that defines the dish.
Sour apple
Adds acidity and a fruity sharpness that balances the rich, spiced sauce.
Onion
Softens and sweetens as it fries, forming the base flavour of the sauce.
Butter or dripping
Fat for frying the meat, adding richness and helping it brown lightly.

The step that matters

Frying the onion, flour and curry powder gently. Frying the spices and flour in fat for about 10 minutes releases the curry aroma and cooks out the raw floury taste, so the sauce thickens smoothly and tastes less harsh. Rushing this step over high heat can scorch the flour and make the sauce bitter.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, flour, onion, lemon, rice):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Limefits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, flour, onion, lemon, rice. 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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