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Fillet of Beef

A tenderloin beef fillet browned and served with a sauce of butter, flour, tomato sauce, Worcestershire, stock, and optional sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Fillet of Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Remove all skin and grease from the tenderloin.

  2. Brown the beef in a frying pan with 2 tablespoons of butter. Once browned, cook over low heat, turning frequently until cooked through.

Make the gravy

  1. In a separate pan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter, then stir in 1 tablespoon of flour.

  2. Add 1 tablespoon of tomato sauce, ½ teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, and 1 cup of stock.

  3. Incorporate the soaked desiccated soup and boil for 2 minutes.

  4. Season the gravy well and add sherry and caramel if desired.

  5. Strain the gravy and pour a small portion over the meat, serving the rest in a hot sauce boat.

Garnish

  1. Garnish with slightly stewed mushrooms if using.

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. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Sherry + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,719 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,448 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

Tenderloin beef
Is the main cut of meat that is browned and then cooked through gently.
Flour
Thickens the butter into a roux that gives the gravy body.
Beef stock
Forms the liquid base of the gravy, carrying the other flavours.
Desiccated soup
Adds concentrated savoury flavour and body to the gravy once rehydrated and boiled.

The step that matters

Cooking the beef over low heat after browning. Browning sears the surface for flavour, but gentle low heat with frequent turning lets the centre cook through without drying or toughening the outer layer.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, sauce, flour, sherry, mushroom):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Chivefits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, sauce, flour, sherry, mushroom. 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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