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Brisket of Beef, Stewed German Fashion

A German-style beef stew with brisket, cabbage, onions, sausages, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Brisket of Beef, Stewed German Fashion

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the brisket into 3-4 equal pieces.

  2. Boil the brisket pieces in water for a few minutes.

  3. Boil half a large cabbage in another pan for 15 minutes.

Make the stew

  1. Stew the brisket with broth, parsley, scallions, garlic, thyme, basil, and bay leaf.

  2. Add the cabbage (cut into 3 pieces and squeezed).

  3. Add 3 large onions.

  4. Add 4 sausages, salt, and whole pepper.

  5. Let the stew cook until the sauce is nearly consumed.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove the meat and vegetables.

  2. Wipe off grease.

  3. Arrange on a plate with beef in the center, surrounded by onions, cabbage, and sausages.

  4. Strain the sauce through a sieve.

  5. Skim off the fat.

  6. Serve the sauce over the ragout.

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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Parsley + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,351 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Brisket of beef
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender as it stews slowly.
Cabbage
Adds bulk and mild sweetness as it softens in the stewing liquid.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and body to the sauce as they soften and melt down.
Sausages
Add savoury fat and smoky flavour to the stewing liquid.
Parsley
Adds fresh herbal aroma to the broth.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, parsley, clove, garlic, thyme, basil, onion):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, parsley, clove, garlic, thyme, basil, onion. 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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