Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓
Alamode Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the stuffing and beef
Mix the grated bread, shredded beef suet, nutmeg, thyme, marjoram, eggs, pepper, and salt to make a stuffing.
Make holes in the beef with a sharp knife, then press the stuffing into the holes in the beef.
Stew the beef
Place the beef in a pot with water, mace, whole peppercorns, cloves, and chopped onion.
Stew the beef over low heat without boiling.
When the beef is half cooked, turn it over.
Skim off excess fat from the beef.
Before the beef is fully cooked, mix some cooking liquid with flour and red wine.
Place sticks or skewers in the pot to prevent burning.
Make meatballs and serve
For meatballs, chop additional beef with suet, onion, marjoram, thyme, pepper, salt, nutmeg, mace, and wet bread crumbs.
Form the chopped mixture into balls.
Fry the meatballs until brown.
Garnish the dish with meatballs and hard-boiled eggs.
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.
-
Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,225 recipes
Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
-
Nutmeg + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together687 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Marjoram + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Nutmeg + thymetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,907 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,557 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef suet
- Adds fat that keeps the stuffing moist and rich as it cooks.
- Eggs
- Bind the stuffing so it holds together when the beef is cooked.
- Bread
- Soaks up liquid and gives the stuffing a soft, binding texture.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid into a smoother, richer sauce.
- Red wine
- Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the thickened cooking liquid.
- Onion
- Adds savoury sweetness and aroma to the stew and meatballs.
The step that matters
Stew the beef over low heat without boiling. Boiling toughens the meat and can break it apart, while gentle heat lets the connective tissue soften slowly and the beef stay tender.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, beef, nutmeg, thyme, marjoram, egg, pepper):
- Winter savoryfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Sagefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, beef, nutmeg, thyme, marjoram, egg, 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.
More alamode beef recipes
You might also like
Brown Bread461 recipes
Roast Beef211 recipes
Beef Loaf175 recipes
Corned Beef87 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.