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Beef a LA Mode, with Stuffing

A boiled round beef stuffed with a mixture of raw beef, pork, bread, butter, and spices, served with a thickened gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 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, with Stuffing

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Cut several holes in the round of beef.

  2. Mix the raw beef, fat salt pork, grated bread, butter, thyme, savory, cloves, allspice, salt, pepper, and cayenne.

  3. Fill the holes with the stuffing.

  4. Stuff the beef.

  5. Bind wide tape or strips of clean cloth over the cuts to keep in the stuffing.

Stew the beef

  1. Lay the stuffed beef on skewers or a plate in a kettle.

  2. Pour boiling water over the beef, cover the kettle, and stew over a gentle fire for 4 hours.

  3. Remove the beef from the kettle.

  4. Take off the tapes.

  5. Remove the skewers or plate.

  6. Keep the beef hot.

Make the gravy and serve

  1. Thicken the gravy with flour mixed smoothly with a little gravy.

  2. Boil the gravy for 1 minute.

  3. Season the gravy with salt and pepper.

  4. Add wine or tomato ketchup to the gravy.

  5. Serve the gravy with the beef.

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. Thyme + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,077 recipes

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

  3. Beef + porktop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,690 recipes

    Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).

  4. Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Round beef
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender through long, gentle stewing.
Raw beef
Adds moisture and body to the stuffing so it holds together when cooked.
Fat salt pork
Adds fat to the stuffing, keeping it moist and rich as it cooks.
Grated bread
Bulks out the stuffing and absorbs juices, giving it a softer texture.
Flour
Thickens the gravy so it becomes smooth and lightly body-rich.
Wine or tomato ketchup
Adds acidity and savory sweetness to the finished gravy.

The step that matters

Keeping the stuffing in during the stew. The cuts must be closed well with tape or cloth, because the stuffing can loosen and escape during the long simmer if the holes are not secured.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pork, bread, butter, thyme, allspice, pepper):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Sagefits better
  3. Parsleyfits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pork, bread, butter, thyme, allspice, 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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