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Forcemeat for a Fillet

A fillet stuffed with a seasoned forcemeat mixture, baked and served with a wine and sauce gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and summer savory match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 125 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Forcemeat for a Fillet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fillet

  1. Remove the knuckle and bone from the center of the fillet.

  2. Fill the space with a mixture of salt pork, bread‑crumbs, nutmeg, mace, marjoram, summer savory, and white pepper, binding it with eggs.

  3. Fry some of the stuffing in small balls.

Roast and serve

  1. Roast a large fillet (14‑15 pounds) for 3 hours or a smaller one for 2 hours, basting with butter.

  2. Add a pint of water to the dripping pan for gravy, thicken with flour, and mix in wine and Harvey's sauce.

  3. Garnish the dish with lemon slices and browned balls.

  4. Serve the gravy 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.

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. Marjoram + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together125 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Nutmeg + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together687 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Nutmeg + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together51 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Mace + white peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the stuffing so it holds together when filled into the fillet.
Bread-crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the stuffing body and texture.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savoury richness to the stuffing.
Flour
Thickens the pan gravy by starch gelatinising in the liquid.
Butter
Adds fat and browning to the fillet as it roasts.

The step that matters

Roast the fillet for the stated time. A large piece of meat cooks unevenly, so the time must match its size. Basting with butter keeps the surface moist and helps it brown while the centre reaches the right doneness.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, bread, nutmeg, mace, marjoram, summer savory, egg):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Sagefits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, bread, nutmeg, mace, marjoram, summer savory, egg. 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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