Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Hash
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the meat
Roll the meat in flour and place it between two plates.
Heat the meat through in the oven at 400°F (200°C) or over boiling water without allowing it to frizzle.
Make the gravy
Slice the onions and fry them brown in the hot dripping.
Add the flour to the onions and stir until brown.
Gradually pour in the stock, stirring until it boils, and season to taste.
Add the meat to the gravy and simmer gently for five minutes.
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.
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Meat + oniontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,364 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Onion + flourtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together32,460 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,777 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold meat
- Forms the main body of the dish, warmed through gently so it stays tender.
- Onions
- Soften and brown in the dripping, adding sweetness and savoury depth to the gravy.
- Dripping
- Fat that fries the onions and carries flavour through the dish.
- Flour
- Browns with the fat and thickens the stock into a gravy.
- Stock
- Liquid that, once boiled with the flour, becomes the gravy.
The step that matters
Browning the flour with the onions. Flour stirred into hot fat browns and thickens unevenly if rushed or left unstirred, which can scorch it and leave lumps when the stock is added. Stirring steadily and adding the stock gradually keeps the gravy smooth.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, flour, pepper):
- Shallotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Okrafits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, flour, 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.
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