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Beef a LA Vingrette

A beef stew simmered in stock and white wine, seasoned with cloves, sweet herbs, and bay leaf, served cold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Beef a LA Vingrette

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut a 3-inch thick slice from a round of beef, including some fat.

Cook

  1. Stew the beef in ½ quart of second stock and add ⅓ cup of white wine.

  2. Season with salt, pepper, cloves, sweet herbs, and a bay leaf.

  3. Boil until the liquid is nearly gone.

Serve

  1. Serve cold.

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. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  3. White wine + clovetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,715 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. White wine + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,433 recipes

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

  5. Beef + clovetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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 as it stews slowly.
Second stock
Provides the liquid that gently cooks the beef and builds savory flavor.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the rich, meaty braising liquid.
Cloves
Contributes warm, aromatic spice to the braising liquid.
Bay leaf
Adds a subtle herbal aroma that infuses the stewing liquid.

The step that matters

Boil until the liquid is nearly gone. Reducing the liquid concentrates its flavor and thickens it, so the sauce clings to the beef instead of tasting watery. Watch closely near the end so it does not scorch or dry out.

Swap the clove

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, white wine, pepper. 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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