Name: Beef Patties
Ingredients: slices of cold roast beef, free from fat and gristle; pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste; 1 small slice of onion, minced; a pinch of grated nutmeg; a sprinkle of flour; 1 small lump of butter

Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Beef Patties

Ingredients

slices of cold roast beef, free from fat and gristle
pepper to taste
coarse sea salt to taste
1 small slice of onion, minced
a pinch of grated nutmeg
a sprinkle of flour
1 small lump of butter

Directions

Mince the cold roast beef finely.
In a bowl, combine the minced beef with pepper, salt, onion, nutmeg, flour, and butter.
Place the mixture in an enamel saucepan over low heat.
Cook for about 15 minutes until the butter is absorbed.
Prepare pastry cases as you would for shrimp patties.
Remove the tops of the cases and fill them with the beef mixture.

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.

Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together13,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 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

Swap the onion

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

Shallotfits better
Chivefits better
Potatofits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, nutmeg, flour, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.