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Beef Stew with Dumplings

A stew of beef, carrots, potatoes, and onion simmered in water, finished with fluffy dumplings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Beef Stew with Dumplings

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the stew

  1. In a large pot, brown the beef cubes over medium heat.

  2. Add water, carrots, potatoes, onion, salt, and pepper.

  3. Bring to a boil.

  4. Reduce heat and simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours until beef is tender.

Add the dumplings

  1. In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt.

  2. Stir in milk and melted butter to form a dough.

  3. Drop spoonfuls of dough into the stew during the last 15 minutes of cooking.

  4. Cover and cook until dumplings are fluffy and cooked through.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Carrot + potatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,107 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  3. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  4. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  5. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 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
Provides the main protein, which becomes tender during long, slow simmering.
Flour
Forms the structure of the dumplings as it sets with the liquid and heat.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the dough so the dumplings rise and turn fluffy.
Milk
Moistens the flour into a dough and adds richness to the dumplings.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the dumplings and gives them a richer flavor.
Potatoes
Thicken the stew slightly as their starch releases during cooking.

The step that matters

Drop the dumplings into a gently simmering stew and cover. Dough dropped into boiling liquid can toughen or cook unevenly on the outside. Keeping the stew at a gentle simmer while covered lets steam cook and lift the dumplings through, so they stay light instead of dense.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, onion, pepper, flour, milk, butter):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Leekfits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits about as well
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, onion, pepper, flour, milk, butter. 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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