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Beef a LA Mode

Beef marinated in a vinegar and spice mixture, then braised and served with thickened gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Beef a LA Mode

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wipe and trim the beef, then place it in a deep earthen dish.

  2. Boil vinegar, chopped onion, salt, mustard, pepper, cloves, and allspice for 5 minutes, then pour over the beef.

  3. Let the meat marinate for several hours, turning it often.

  4. Lard the beef with strips of salt pork.

Brown and braise

  1. Brown the beef in hot fat with fried onions and carrot.

  2. Transfer the beef to a Caloric kettle and add enough boiling water to nearly cover it.

  3. Boil for 20 minutes, then add a small bag of mixed herbs.

  4. Cook in the Caloric for 5 to 6 hours using one radiator.

Finish and serve

  1. Before serving, adjust seasoning and thicken the gravy with flour.

  2. Boil the gravy for 5 minutes, strain it over the meat, and garnish with potato balls and small onions.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Beef + porktop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,690 recipes

    Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).

  3. Mustard + allspicetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Long, slow cooking turns the tough cut tender and gives the dish its body.
Vinegar
Its acidity helps break down the meat during marinating and adds a tangy note.
Salt pork
Its fat bastes the lean beef from within as it cooks, adding moisture and flavor.
Onions
Browned onions add sweetness and depth to the gravy.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid into a smooth gravy.

The step that matters

Cook in the Caloric for 5 to 6 hours using one radiator. Tough connective tissue in the round only softens into tender gelatin after a long, gentle simmer. Cooking too hot or too briefly leaves the beef firm and chewy.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, vinegar, mustard, pepper, clove, allspice, pork):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Horseradishfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, vinegar, mustard, pepper, clove, allspice, pork. 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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