Name: Mince Collops of Beef
Ingredients: beef; coarse sea salt; black pepper; ghee; onions; water

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 ↓

Mince Collops of Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Chop and mince the beef very small.
Add coarse sea salt and black pepper to the minced beef.
Heat ghee in a frying pan.
Slice onions and fry them in the ghee.
Add a little water to the pan.
Stir in the minced meat and stew well until cooked.
Serve hot.

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 + gheetop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together135 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ghee + oniontop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,310 recipes