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Forcemeat for a Fillet

A seasoned forcemeat mixture used to stuff a fillet before roasting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and summer savory match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 125 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Forcemeat for a Fillet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stuffing

  1. Remove the knuckle and bone from the center of the fillet.

  2. Mix the salt pork, bread-crumbs, nutmeg, mace, marjoram, summer savory, and white pepper in a bowl. Bind the mixture together with the eggs.

  3. Fill the space in the fillet with the stuffing.

Roast the fillet

  1. Roast a large fillet (14-15 pounds) for 3 hours or a smaller one for 2 hours, basting with butter.

  2. Add a pint of water to the dripping pan for gravy.

Make the gravy

  1. Thicken the gravy with flour.

  2. Mix in wine and Harvey's sauce.

  3. In a saucepan, combine boiling water, lemon juice, and Harvey's sauce.

  4. Pour the sauce over the fillet before serving.

Fry and garnish

  1. Fry stuffing in small balls.

  2. Garnish the dish with lemon slices and browned balls.

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. Marjoram + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together125 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Nutmeg + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together687 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Nutmeg + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together51 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Mace + white peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

What each ingredient does

Salt pork
Adds fat and richness, keeping the stuffing moist as it cooks.
Bread-crumbs
Provides bulk and absorbs moisture, giving the stuffing body.
Eggs
Bind the stuffing together so it holds its shape when filled and fried.
Butter
Adds fat for browning and flavour on the fillet and the fried balls.
Flour
Thickens the gravy by swelling in the hot liquid.
Harvey's sauce
Contributes savoury, tangy flavour to the sauce and gravy.

The step that matters

Fill the space in the fillet with the stuffing. Packed too loosely, the stuffing can fall out or leave gaps. Packed too firmly, it stays dense and may cook unevenly. Even filling helps the stuffing set and heat through with the meat.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, bread, nutmeg, mace, marjoram, summer savory, egg):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Sagefits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, bread, nutmeg, mace, marjoram, summer savory, egg. 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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