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Beef a LA Mode

A slow‑cooked beef roast with salt pork, veal, butter, spices, onion, carrot, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and pepper 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 Mode

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pot

  1. Have the butcher insert a good piece of fat into the roast before skewering it.

  2. In a boiler or air-tight kettle, place the salt pork, veal, butter, salt, cloves, whole pepper, onion, and carrot.

  3. Lay the roast in the kettle and pour the vinegar over it.

  4. Close the kettle and set it over low heat.

Braise

  1. After 10 minutes, add 1 cup of water.

  2. Turn the meat.

  3. After 15 minutes, add another cup of water.

  4. After 20 more minutes, add another cup of water.

  5. Turn the meat occasionally, keeping the kettle closed.

  6. Simmer slowly for 4 hours.

Finish and serve

  1. When done, carefully place the roast on a platter with a piece of carrot on each side.

  2. Turn out the grease from the kettle.

  3. Add 2 tablespoons of water.

  4. Bring the liquid to a boil.

  5. Pour the boiling liquid over the meat.

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 + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Clove + carrottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Pepper + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Roast tenderloin
Forms the main body of the dish, cooked slowly until tender in the closed kettle.
Salt pork
Renders fat into the pot, adding richness and moisture to the meat and the cooking liquid.
Veal
Adds gelatin-rich body that enriches the braising liquid and gives a silky texture.
Butter
Adds fat that carries flavor and helps the meat brown lightly in the pot.
Vinegar
Adds a little acidity that helps tenderize the meat and brightens the sauce.

The step that matters

Keeping the kettle closed while simmering. Braising depends on trapped steam and gentle heat to break down connective tissue. Lifting the lid or boiling hard lets moisture escape and can leave the meat dry and tough.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, veal, butter, pepper, onion, carrot, vinegar):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, veal, butter, pepper, onion, carrot, vinegar. 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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