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Fillet of Beef a LA Moldave

A Moldavian beef fillet stew with onions, carrots, spices, rice, ham, peas, and mashed potato topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,021 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Fillet of Beef a LA Moldave

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the stew

  1. Trim the fillet of beef into shape and place the trimmings in a stewpan.

  2. Add sliced onions, sliced carrots, allspice berries, bay leaves, mace, sweet herbs, seasoning and stock broth to the stewpan.

  3. Lay the beef in the stewpan.

  4. Cover the stewpan with buttered paper and place the lid on the stewpan.

  5. Bring the stew to a boil on the stove.

  6. Transfer the stew to a 400°F (200°C) oven.

  7. Bake for 2 hours.

Make the gravy

  1. After cooking, strain the gravy.

  2. Remove the fat from the gravy.

  3. Reduce the gravy to ½ pint by boiling.

Prepare the garnish

  1. Boil the rice in water until tender.

  2. Drain the rice and keep it hot.

  3. Heat the preserved peas.

  4. Dice the ham into small squares.

Serve

  1. On a hot dish, create a bed of mashed potatoes.

  2. Place the fillet on top of the mashed potatoes.

  3. Surround the beef with heaps of rice, ham, and peas.

  4. Pour the boiling gravy over the dish.

  5. Serve hot.

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. Carrot + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,021 recipes

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

  2. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  3. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  4. Carrot + ricetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,477 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Allspice + macetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Fillet of beef
Forms the main body of the dish and is the meat that is braised until tender.
Stock broth
Provides the liquid that gently cooks the beef and forms the base of the gravy.
Onions
Add savoury sweetness and aromatic depth to the stewing liquid and gravy.
Carrots
Contribute natural sweetness and body to the stewing liquid and gravy.
Lean ham
Adds salty, savoury flavour to the garnish alongside the rice and peas.

The step that matters

Reduce the gravy to ½ pint by boiling. Boiling concentrates the flavour of the stock and vegetables, so the gravy becomes rich. Removing the fat first keeps the reduced sauce clean and glossy rather than greasy.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, carrot, allspice, rice, ham, peas):

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, carrot, allspice, rice, ham, peas. 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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