Why it works: Beef and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,690 recipes. Both carry 12-methyltridecanal, which smells tallowy, beefy. The science ↓
Larded Filet of Beef with Tomatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Trim the filet of beef and wipe it with a wet cloth.
Lard the beef as directed in the recipe for fricandeau of veal.
Roast or bake the beef according to previous instructions.
Protect the lardoons with buttered paper before cooking.
Wipe the tomatoes and stuff them as directed in the recipe for stuffed tomatoes.
Bake the stuffed tomatoes while the beef cooks.
Remove the buttered paper from the beef before it is done to allow the lardoons to brown.
Arrange the filet on a hot dish with the tomatoes around it and serve hot.
Garnish with small hearts of lettuce if in season.
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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Beef + porktop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,690 recipes
Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).
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Tomato + lettucetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,655 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + porktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pork + lettucetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together821 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
Swap the lettuce
The recipe marks lettuce as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, tomato, pork):
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Onionfits better
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, tomato, pork. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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