Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓
Leg of Beef Stew
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and simmer
Cut the beef into small pieces.
Place the beef in a pot with cold water and bring to a boil, then skim off any foam that rises to the surface.
Add the chopped vegetables and season with salt and pepper.
Reduce heat and let it simmer for 2.5 hours, skimming occasionally.
Finish and serve
If desired, thicken with a little corn flour before serving.
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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Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,173 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,418 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,585 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Leg of beef
- Provides the main protein, which becomes tender through long, slow simmering.
- Celery
- Adds aromatic flavour to the broth as it cooks.
- Carrots
- Add sweetness and body to the broth as they soften.
- Turnip
- Adds mild sweetness and soft texture to the stew.
- Corn flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid when stirred in before serving.
The step that matters
Skimming the foam. Foam that rises at the start contains coagulated proteins and impurities that can cloud the broth and taste bitter if left in. Skimming it early and occasionally during the simmer keeps the stew clear and clean-flavoured.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, turnip, celery, pepper, corn, flour):
- Parsnipfits better
- Leekfits better
- Okrafits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, turnip, celery, pepper, corn, flour. 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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