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Stewed Rump of Beef

A stew of beef rump cooked slowly with beer, vinegar, mushroom catsup, herbs, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Stewed Rump of Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and stew

  1. Half-roast the rump of beef.

  2. Place it in a large stewpan with beer, vinegar, mushroom catsup, herbs, and enough water or stock to cover.

  3. Stew gently until the meat is very tender.

Serve

  1. Transfer the meat to a hot dish, strain and thicken the gravy, and pour it over the meat.

  2. Finish with oysters or pickled mushrooms if desired.

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. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 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
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender through long, gentle stewing.
Beer
Adds liquid and a malty depth of flavour to the braising liquid.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the gravy and helps tenderise the meat.
Mushroom catsup
Contributes concentrated savoury, umami flavour to the gravy.

The step that matters

Stew gently until the meat is very tender. Rump is a tough, lean cut. Holding the liquid at a gentle simmer lets collagen break down into gelatin slowly, while a hard boil would toughen and dry the meat.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, beer, vinegar, mushroom, onion, clove, pepper):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, beer, vinegar, mushroom, onion, clove, 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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