Name: Stewed Beef, with Vegetables
Ingredients: 2 pounds beef, cut into chunks; 2 cups mixed vegetables (carrots, potatoes, onions); 4 cups beef broth; 2 tablespoons olive oil; Salt and pepper to taste; Fresh herbs (thyme, bay leaf)

Why it works: Carrot and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,563 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Stewed Beef, with Vegetables

Ingredients

2 pounds beef, cut into chunks
2 cups mixed vegetables (carrots, potatoes, onions)
4 cups beef broth
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh herbs (thyme, bay leaf)

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.

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.
Add beef chunks and brown on all sides.
Add mixed vegetables and cook for 5 minutes.
Pour in beef broth and add herbs, salt, and pepper.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours until beef is tender.

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.

Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,563 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,585 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Olive + thymetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,948 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
Carrot + potatotop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,107 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beef: Browning builds savory flavor, and slow simmering turns the tough cuts tender.
Beef broth: Provides the cooking liquid that carries flavor and keeps the stew moist.
Mixed vegetables: Carrots, potatoes and onions add body, sweetness and texture to the stew.

The step that matters

Brown the beef on all sides. Searing creates browned flavor through the Maillard reaction. Crowding the pot or skipping the sear leaves the beef grey and less flavorful.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, potato, olive, pepper, thyme):

Tomatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Parsnipfits about as well
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, potato, olive, pepper, thyme. 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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Stewed Beef, with Vegetables