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Fillet of Beef

A fillet of beef roasted with onions, carrots, celery, cloves, and bay leaves, seasoned with salt, pepper, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Fillet of Beef

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Have the butcher lard the fillet with salt pork.

  2. Remove any tough membrane and excess fat from the fillet.

  3. Place the sliced onion, carrot, celery, cloves, and bay leaves in the bottom of a pan.

  4. Place the fillet on the vegetables or on a meat rack.

  5. Season the fillet with salt, pepper, and bits of butter.

Roast

  1. Dissolve 1 teaspoon of salt in ½ cup boiling water and pour it into the pan.

  2. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 30 to 40 minutes, basting frequently.

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. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef fillet
Lean, tender meat that becomes juicy and sliced when roasted briefly at high heat.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor as it melts into the lean fillet during roasting.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps the surface brown and taste savory.
Onion, carrot, and celery
Flavor base that perfumes the pan liquid and drippings used for basting.

The step that matters

Basting frequently in the oven. Frequent basting moistens the surface and carries pan juices back over the meat, reducing drying during a short, hot roast of a lean cut.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, carrot, celery, pepper, butter):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, carrot, celery, pepper, 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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