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A LA Mode Beef

A boiled round of beef stuffed with bread and suet, seasoned with herbs and spices, served with a wine and ketchup gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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A LA Mode Beef

Why it works: Pepper and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

A LA Mode Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Remove the bone from the beef.

  2. Tie the beef into a round shape.

  3. Make small incisions in the beef and fill the incisions with stuffing.

Braise

  1. Place the beef in a large pot and add enough water to nearly cover it.

  2. Season with salt, pepper, cloves, onion, and herbs.

  3. Boil slowly for 2 hours.

  4. Add red wine and tomato ketchup.

  5. Add water if the gravy boils away.

Make and add the force-meat balls

  1. Wet the mixture with eggs.

  2. Roll the mixture into small balls.

  3. Fry the balls in a little butter if desired.

  4. Add the force-meat balls.

  5. Cook for an additional 20 minutes.

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. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Clove + sagetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together731 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 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

Beef round
Forms the main body of the dish, and slow boiling turns its tough muscle tender.
Eggs
Bind the breadcrumb and suet mixture so the force-meat balls hold their shape.
Baker's bread
Soaks up liquid and gives the stuffing and force-meat balls a soft, light body.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the stuffing and force-meat balls moist and rich during cooking.
Red wine
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the gravy as it reduces.
Tomato ketchup
Adds sweetness and acidity that deepen the colour and flavour of the gravy.

The step that matters

Keep the gravy at a slow boil with enough water. If the liquid boils away, the beef can dry out and toughen, and the gravy loses body. Slow simmering keeps the meat tender while collagen breaks down into gelatin.

Swap the sage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, clove, onion, red wine, tomato, ketchup):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Celeryfits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Sagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, clove, onion, red wine, tomato, ketchup. 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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