Why it works: Marjoram and basil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 688 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓
Beef a LA Mode
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the beef
Remove the bone from the beef and make deep incisions with a sharp knife.
Wash the meat and season well with salt and pepper.
Make the stuffing
In a bowl, combine the crumbled bread, marjoram, basil, onions, mace, salt, and pepper.
Rub the mixture with the butter until well combined.
Fill the incisions in the meat with the mixture and tie with string to secure.
Bake
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until well done.
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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Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together688 recipes
Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
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Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Pepper + basiltop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,294 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef round
- Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender and sliceable as it cooks slowly.
- Baker's bread
- Soaks up butter and juices, keeping the stuffing moist and giving it body.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour and helping the stuffing stay moist.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and savoury depth as they soften and brown in the stuffing.
- Mace
- Adds a warm, aromatic flavour that complements the beef and butter.
The step that matters
Fill the incisions and tie securely. Stuffing packed into deep cuts must stay inside the meat while it bakes. Tying the roast firmly holds the filling in place and helps the meat cook evenly around it.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, bread, marjoram, basil, onion, butter):
- Thymefits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Sagefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, bread, marjoram, basil, onion, 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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