Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Beef a LA Mode
Ingredients
Directions
Season and rest
Rub both sides of the steak thoroughly with the salt, cinnamon, pepper, vinegar, cloves, melted butter, and mace mixture.
Roll the steak and bind it with twine, then let it stand overnight.
Roast
The next day, roast the steak for three hours in a savory roaster.
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.
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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Clove + macetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,400 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Cinnamon + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,890 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Cinnamon + macetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Thick round steak
- Is the main cut of meat that becomes tender during the long, slow roast.
- Vinegar
- Acid that helps tenderize the surface of the meat while it rests in the seasoning.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat that carries the spices and moistness to the surface of the meat.
The step that matters
Rolling and binding the steak. A loosely rolled or poorly tied steak can unroll and cook unevenly during the long roast. Tight, even binding keeps its shape so heat reaches the layers consistently.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cinnamon, pepper, vinegar, clove, butter):
- Allspicefits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, pepper, vinegar, clove, butter. 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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