Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Beef a LA Mode
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a steady oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the dish
Cover the bottom of a pudding dish with thin strips of bacon.
Layer half the beef strips in the dish.
Strew half of the sliced carrots, turnips, and onions over the beef.
Add the remaining beef strips on top.
Strew the remaining sliced vegetables over the second layer of beef.
Add the broken bay leaves.
Cover everything with stock.
Make the crust and bake
Make a paste of flour and water.
Roll it out like pie crust.
Cover the top of the dish with the paste, pinching the edges to seal.
Bake for 2 hours in a steady oven at 350°F (175°C).
Remove the paste cover.
Serve immediately.
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.
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Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,585 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Turnip + flourtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,874 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef
- Provides the main meaty body and savory flavor as it becomes tender during long baking.
- Bacon
- Melts fat into the dish, adding savory richness and flavor to the beef and vegetables.
- Carrots
- Add sweetness and color, and soften into the stewing liquid during slow baking.
- Turnips
- Contribute a mild, slightly peppery flavor and soften as they cook in the stock.
- Onions
- Add aromatic depth and sweetness that builds savory flavor as they cook down.
- Flour
- Forms the paste crust that seals in steam and moisture while the dish bakes.
The step that matters
Sealing the paste cover. Pinching the crust edges fully closed keeps steam and juices inside the dish, so the beef cooks in moist heat rather than drying out.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, turnip, flour):
- Parsnipfits better
- Leekfits better
- Arrowrootfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, turnip, flour. 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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