Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Braised Beef
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Start the braise
Preheat your oven to 300°F (150°C).
Place the beef in a pan and cover it with butter or clarified dripping to prevent sticking.
Cook slowly for 1 hour.
Finish braising
Pour off the grease and add the broth, rich gravy, vinegar, and calf's-foot jelly.
Cover the pan again and cook for 2 more hours, basting frequently.
Make the gravy
Once tender, remove the beef and mix the flour with a little cream.
Stir the mixture into the gravy, season to taste, and pour over the beef.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,847 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Butter + vinegartop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,513 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rump beef
- Slow cooking breaks down tough connective tissue, leaving the meat tender and moist.
- Broth
- Provides cooking liquid that keeps the beef moist and builds the sauce's savoury base.
- Rich gravy
- Adds concentrated meaty flavour and body to the sauce.
- Flour
- Starch thickens the gravy as it heats, giving it a smooth, coating consistency.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smoother, softer mouthfeel to the finished sauce.
- Vinegar
- Adds a small amount of acidity that brightens and balances the rich meat flavour.
The step that matters
Mixing the flour with cream before adding it to the gravy. Flour added directly to hot liquid clumps. Blending it first with a little cream lets the starch disperse evenly, so it thickens the gravy smoothly as it heats.
“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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