Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Shin of Beef Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the meat
Have the butcher saw the shin-bone into pieces about 2 inches long.
Wash the meat in cold water.
Mix salt and pepper, then rub this mixture into the meat.
Simmer the soup
Place the meat in a soup pot and add water equal to the weight of the meat in quarts.
Set the pot over moderate heat until it boils.
Skim off any scum that rises to the surface.
Cover the pot and reduce the heat to maintain a gentle boil for 2 hours.
Skim the soup again and add your choice of vegetables.
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 + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Shin of beef
- Provides the main meat and, from the bone and connective tissue, body and richness to the broth.
The step that matters
Skimming the scum as it rises. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that surface as the liquid heats. Removing it early keeps the broth clearer and cleaner-tasting. Skim again after the long simmer.
“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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