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Beef Palates, Fricasseed

A stew of beef palates simmered in wine and broth, finished with butter, flour, cream, and vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Beef Palates, Fricasseed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the palates

  1. Place cleaned palates in a stewpan and cover with water.

  2. Add parsley, white wine, salt, sugar, and pepper. Simmer for three hours.

  3. Strain the liquid.

Make the sauce

  1. In a separate pan, melt the butter and blend in the flour.

  2. Gradually stir in the cream and enough of the strained liquid to achieve the right consistency.

Finish and serve

  1. Slice the palates into neat rounds and add them to the stewpan.

  2. Add cucumbers, boiled onions, grated nutmeg, cayenne, and salt to taste. Stew for twenty minutes.

  3. Before serving, stir in the lemon juice.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. White wine + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 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 palates
Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender through long simmering.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and carries flavour, and with flour forms the base of the thickened sauce.
Flour
Thickens the butter and cream sauce so it clings to the palates.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, velvety texture to the sauce.
Cucumbers
Add a cool, fresh texture that contrasts with the rich sauce.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, creamy sauce.

The step that matters

Stirring the cream and strained liquid into the butter and flour. Adding liquid gradually to a roux keeps it smooth; adding it all at once can leave lumps of flour. The sauce should be checked for consistency before the palates go in.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, white wine, sugar, pepper, butter, flour, cream):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Cinnamonfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, white wine, sugar, pepper, butter, flour, cream. 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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