Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Hot Pot
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Remove the fat from the beef and cut it into 4 or 5 pieces.
Slice the onions very thinly and cut each potato into 3 or 4 pieces.
Assemble
Layer potatoes at the bottom of an earthenware dish, followed by a layer of beef and a few slices of onion.
Season each layer with salt and pepper, continuing until all ingredients are used, with potatoes on top.
Fill the dish three-quarters full with cold water, adding more if it appears dry.
Bake and serve
Cover with greased paper and bake at 300°F (150°C) for about 2 hours.
Serve in the dish in which it was cooked.
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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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 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).
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Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,052 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 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
- Lean beef
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender during the long, gentle baking.
- Potatoes
- Form the base and top layer, absorbing cooking liquid and becoming soft and starchy.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and aroma as they soften slowly in the baking liquid.
The step that matters
Fill with cold water to three-quarters full. The water provides the moisture that cooks the meat and potatoes gently over a long bake. If the dish runs dry, the ingredients can scorch or toughen, so check and add more water as the recipe directs.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, pepper):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Tomatofits about as well
- Carrotfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, pepper. 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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