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Beef A-LA-mode

A stuffed beef roast baked with marrow, garlic, wine, lemon pickle, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Randolph (1762–1828) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Beef A-LA-mode

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Take the bone from a round of beef.

  2. Fill the space with a forcemeat made of the crumbs of a stale loaf, four ounces of marrow, two heads of garlic chopped with thyme and parsley, some nutmeg, cloves, pepper and salt.

  3. Mix the forcemeat to a paste with the yolks of four eggs beaten.

  4. Stuff the lean part of the round with the forcemeat.

  5. Make balls of the remainder.

  6. Sew a fillet of strong linen wide enough to keep it round and compact.

Braise and bake

  1. Put the stuffed round in a vessel just sufficiently large to hold it.

  2. Add a pint of red wine.

  3. Cover it with sheets of tm or iron.

  4. Set it in a brick oven properly heated.

  5. Bake it three hours.

Finish and serve

  1. When done, skim the fat from the gravy.

  2. Thicken the gravy with brown flour.

  3. Add some mushroom and walnut catsup.

  4. Serve it up garnished with forcemeat balls fried.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

149Calories
8 gProtein
7 gFat
11 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Mary Randolph (1762–1828). 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. See the original page.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  4. Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

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

  5. Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks bind the forcemeat into a paste that holds its shape when stuffed and cooked.
Marrow
Melting fat enriches the forcemeat, keeping it moist and tender as it bakes.
Red wine
Adds acidity and depth, and helps tenderise the beef during the long braise.
Garlic
Contributes pungent aroma that mellows and sweetens during long cooking.
Brown flour (in the method)
Thickens the gravy so it coats the meat and balls.

The step that matters

Sew the linen tightly around the round. The linen must hold the stuffed beef round and compact during a three-hour bake. If it is loose, the forcemeat can fall out or the meat can lose its shape as it softens and shrinks.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (red wine, lemon, egg, thyme, parsley, nutmeg, clove):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Winter savoryfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against red wine, lemon, egg, thyme, parsley, nutmeg, clove. 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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