Why it works: Parsley and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
A-LA-mode Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beef
Take the bone out of a round of fresh beef.
Beat the meat well all over to make it tender.
Chop and mix equal quantities of sweet marjoram and sweet basil, with the leaves picked from the stalks and rubbed fine.
Chop small onions or shallots, and some parsley.
Chop the marrow from the bone of the beef and a quarter of a pound, or more, of suet.
Add grated stale bread, and pepper, mace and nutmeg to taste.
Mix all these ingredients well and bind them together with the beaten yolks of four eggs.
Fill the place from which the bone was taken with this seasoning.
Rub what is left of the seasoning all over the outside of the meat.
Proportion the quantity of stuffing to the size of the round of beef.
Fasten it well with skewers and tie it firmly round with a piece of tape to keep it compact.
Prepare the meat the day before it is to be cooked.
Braise
Cover the bottom of a stew-pan with slices of ham.
Lay the beef upon the ham and cover the top of the meat with more slices of ham.
Place round it four large onions, four carrots and four turnips, all cut in thick slices.
Pour in from half a pint to a pint of water.
If convenient, add two calves' feet cut in half.
Cover the pan closely, set it in an oven and bake for at least six hours, or seven or eight according to the size.
Finish and serve
When thoroughly done, take out the beef and lay it on a dish with the vegetables round it.
Remove the bacon and calves' feet.
Skim the fat from the gravy carefully and strain it into a small sauce-pan.
Set the sauce-pan on hot coals and stir into it a teacup-full of port wine and the same quantity of pickled mushrooms.
Let it just come to a boil, then send it to table in a sauce-tureen.
If the beef is to be eaten cold, glaze it all over with beaten white of egg.
Cover it with a coat of boiled potato grated finely.
Arrange slices of cold boiled carrot and beet-root cut into stars or flowers over the grated potato.
In the centre place a large bunch of double parsley, interspersed with flowers cut out of raw turnips, beets and carrots.
Fix the flowers on wooden skewers concealed with parsley.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 8 of 10 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Turnip | 1 medium (122g) | 34 |
| Carrot | 1 medium (61g) | 25 |
| Nutmeg | 1 tsp ground (2.2g) | 12 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Parsley | 1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g) | 1 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Mace | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
-
Parsley + carrottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Parsley + turniptop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,842 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,585 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef (in the method)
- Forms the main body of the dish; long slow braising breaks down its connective tissue for tenderness.
- Eggs
- Yolks bind the stuffing together, setting as they heat to hold it compact.
- Stale bread
- Soaks up moisture and helps the stuffing hold together rather than run out.
- Suet (in the method)
- Adds fat that keeps the stuffing moist and rich during long cooking.
- Calves' feet
- Their collagen releases gelatin into the cooking liquid, giving the gravy body.
- Onions
- Soften during braising and flavour the gravy with their sweetness.
The step that matters
Cover the pan closely and bake for at least six hours. A tightly covered pan traps steam so the beef braises gently. Long, slow heat is needed to break down connective tissue, so cutting the time short leaves the meat tough.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, bread, egg, onion, carrot, turnip, pepper):
- Marjoramfits better
- Celeryfits better
- Thymefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, bread, egg, onion, carrot, turnip, pepper. 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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