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Beef a LA Mode

A slow‑cooked beef stew with herbs, spices, bacon, beer, wine, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Beef a LA Mode

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the beef into pieces suitable for stewing.

  2. Mix cloves, mace, allspice, parsley, and sweet herbs, then cut bacon into ¼ inch squares and add to the beef.

  3. Place beef in a pot and cover with water.

Stew

  1. Add onions, garlic, bay leaves, mushrooms, beer, red wine, pepper, salt, Cayenne pepper, and vinegar.

  2. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the mixture.

  3. Cover and stew for 6 to 8 hours, depending on the size of the beef.

Finish the gravy

  1. Remove beef and keep it warm in a deep dish.

  2. Strain the gravy through a sieve, discarding solids.

  3. Skim off the fat from the gravy and bring it to a boil.

  4. Season the gravy to taste before serving.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Allspice + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,289 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Parsley + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender through long, slow stewing.
Breadcrumbs
Thicken the cooking liquid into a gravy as they absorb moisture and soften.
Red wine
Adds acidity and depth of flavour that balances the rich, slowly cooked beef.
Strong beer
Contributes malty depth and body to the braising liquid.
Onions
Break down during stewing, adding sweetness and body to the gravy.
Fat bacon
Renders fat and savoury flavour into the beef and the surrounding liquid.

The step that matters

Stewing for 6 to 8 hours. Long, gentle stewing breaks down the tough connective tissue in the cut of beef into gelatin, making it tender. Too short a time leaves it tough, and a rolling boil toughens the meat and can cloud the gravy.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, clove, allspice, parsley, onion, garlic, mushroom):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, clove, allspice, parsley, onion, garlic, mushroom. 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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