Name: Rump of Beef, with Onions
Ingredients: 1 rump of beef; 1 pint white wine; 1 cup good broth; 2 slices of veal; 2 slices of bacon or ham; 1 large bunch kitchen herbs; pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste; onions (quantity to taste)

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 ↓

Rump of Beef, with Onions

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Remove the bones from the rump of beef and tie it compactly.

Braise

In a pan that allows for fire at the top, add the beef, white wine, broth, veal, bacon or ham, kitchen herbs, pepper, and salt.
When the beef is nearly half done, add a good quantity of onions.
Once the beef is thoroughly cooked, remove it from the pan and wipe off the grease.

Serve

Place the beef in a serving dish, surround it with onions, and pour over a sauce of your choice.

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 + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + vealtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,784 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
White wine + oniontop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,535 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

Rump of beef: Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through slow, moist cooking.
White wine: Adds acidity and aroma to the cooking liquid, helping build flavour in the sauce.
Broth: Supplies moisture and savoury flavour to the braising liquid.
Onions: Add sweetness and savoury depth as they soften and cook in the pan juices.

The step that matters

Adding the onions at the halfway point. Onions added too early can break down and turn mushy, while adding them when the beef is nearly half done lets them soften and sweeten without losing their shape.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, white wine, veal, ham, pepper):

Onionthe original
Tomatofits about as well
Capsicumfits about as well
Carrotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, white wine, veal, ham, 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.

Beef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipes

Roast Beef211 recipes

Beef Loaf175 recipes

Corned Beef87 recipes

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Rump of Beef, with Onions