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A Rump of Beef a LA Braise

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 17,091 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Hang the rump of beef for 5 to 6 days.

  2. Bone and lard the beef thickly with bacon or ham pieces, ensuring they do not show on the surface.

  3. Mix the minced onion, parsley, thyme, garlic, pepper, and salt to season the beef.

  4. Add any leftover seasoning to the vinegar, port wine, and salad oil; steep the beef in this mixture overnight.

  5. The next day, wrap the beef in paper and roast it on a spit.

  6. Baste the beef well while roasting.

  7. Serve with thick brown gravy, lemon juice, and sliced pickled cucumbers.

  8. Garnish with slices of boiled carrot and scraped horseradish.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Beef + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,091 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29,030 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together34,118 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Thyme + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, ham, onion, thyme, garlic, pepper, vinegar):

  1. Marjoramabout as good a flavor fit
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Rosemaryabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Celeryabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, ham, onion, thyme, garlic, pepper, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

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