Name: Beef Collops
Ingredients: fillet from the under part of a rump of beef; pickled cucumbers; small mushrooms; blanched oysters; seasoned cullis

Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Beef Collops

Ingredients

Directions

Cut the fillet into small, thin slices.
Fry the slices until three-quarters cooked.
Add slices of pickled cucumbers, small mushrooms, and blanched oysters.
Pour in seasoned cullis and stew until tender.

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.

Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,232 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Cucumber + oystertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together192 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Cucumber + mushroomtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together667 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Mushroom + oystertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,299 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Beef + cucumbertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together576 recipes

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