Name: Rump of Beef, with Onions
Ingredients: 1 rump of beef; 1 pint white wine; good broth; 2 slices of bacon or ham; 1 large bunch kitchen herbs; pepper; salt; onions

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 ↓

Rump of Beef, with Onions

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Remove the bones from the beef and tie it compactly.

Braise

In a pan, combine the beef, white wine, broth, bacon or ham, kitchen herbs, pepper, and salt.
When the beef is nearly half done, add a good quantity of onions.
Once the beef is thoroughly cooked, remove it and wipe off the grease.

Serve

Place the beef in a serving dish, surround it with onions, and pour over a sauce of your choice.

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).
White wine + oniontop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,535 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
White wine + peppertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,433 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

Beef rump: Forms the main body of the dish and becomes tender as it cooks slowly in liquid.
White wine: Adds acidity and aroma to the cooking liquid, helping flavor the meat and sauce.
Broth: Provides moisture and savory depth to the liquid the beef cooks in.
Bacon or ham: Contributes salty, smoky fat that flavors the braising liquid and the meat.
Onions: Soften and sweeten as they cook, adding flavor and moisture to the dish.

The step that matters

Adding the onions at the halfway point. Onions added too early break down and disappear into the liquid, while adding them too late leaves them raw and sharp. Timing them for the middle of cooking lets them soften and sweeten while keeping their shape.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, white wine, ham, pepper):

Onionthe original
Tomatofits about as well
Capsicumfits about as well
Carrotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, white wine, ham, 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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Rump of Beef, with Onions