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Braised Beef

Braised beef cooked slowly in water, then browned with flour and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Braised Beef

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 ↓

Braised Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Braise

  1. Place the brisket of beef in a broad-bottomed pot over the fire.

  2. Turn the beef.

  3. Wait 10 minutes.

  4. Turn the beef again.

  5. Pour in 2 cups of boiling water.

  6. Cover tightly.

  7. Cook slowly for 1 hour.

  8. Turn the meat.

  9. If the meat weighs 7 or 8 pounds, cook for an additional hour with the lid on.

Finish in the oven

  1. Transfer the beef to the oven.

  2. Dust with flour.

  3. Baste with gravy.

  4. Brown for 5-6 minutes before serving.

Make the gravy and serve

  1. Skim the gravy.

  2. Season the gravy.

  3. Thicken with browned flour.

  4. Serve in a boat.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

  1. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Beef + flourtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10,677 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Beef and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,677 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Beef brisket
Forms the main body of the dish; slow cooking softens its tough connective tissue into tender meat.
Boiling water
Creates steam and liquid in the covered pot, keeping the meat moist during slow braising.
Flour
Dusted on the meat and browned to thicken the gravy and add color.
Gravy
Basted over the meat to add moisture and flavor and build a browned surface.

The step that matters

Cover tightly and cook slowly. Slow, covered cooking traps steam so the tough connective tissue in brisket can break down gradually. Too much heat or an open lid dries the meat before it becomes tender.

“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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