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Fricassee Cold Roast Beef

A fricassee made with sliced cold roast beef, broth, parsley, onion, butter, port wine, egg yolks, and shallot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Fricassee Cold Roast Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fricassee

  1. Combine the beef slices and strong broth in a stewpan.

  2. Add chopped parsley, scored onion, and butter; simmer for 15 minutes.

  3. Stir in port wine and egg yolks; mix well.

  4. Stew quickly until heated through.

Serve

  1. Rub the serving dish with shallot, pour in the fricassee, and serve.

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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

  3. Onion + shallottop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Port wine + shallottop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together380 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold roast beef
Provides the meat that forms the body of the dish.
Strong broth
Supplies moisture and savory depth that keeps the beef tender.
Butter
Adds fat for richer flavor and a smoother mouthfeel.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and aroma that balance the savory broth.
Egg yolks
Thicken the sauce and add richness when gently heated.

The step that matters

Stew quickly until heated through. Egg yolks begin to set and curdle if they get too hot or are held at a simmer too long. Heating only until warm keeps the sauce smooth and creamy.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, parsley, butter, port wine, egg, shallot):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, parsley, butter, port wine, egg, shallot. 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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