Why it works: Beef and mutton are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,373 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Beef Tea
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Cut the beef into small pieces.
Place the beef in a stone jar with cold water and the mutton bone if using.
Cook and serve
Cover the jar tightly and place it in a saucepan of boiling water or a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for three hours.
After cooking, strain the liquid to serve.
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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Beef + muttontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,373 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lean beef
- Supplies the meat flavor and protein that give the tea its savoury taste and body.
- Cold water
- Slowly draws flavor and dissolved material out of the meat as it heats.
The step that matters
Keep the heat gentle. Cooking in a covered jar at a low, steady heat, rather than a hard boil, extracts flavor slowly and helps keep the finished liquid clear rather than cloudy.
“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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