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Braized Ox-cheek, with Puree of Green-peas

A braised ox cheek served with a green pea puree.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Braized Ox-cheek, with Puree of Green-peas

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ox-cheek

  1. Soak the ox-cheek in cold water for two hours.

  2. Parboil the ox-cheek in water for five minutes, then immerse it in cold water.

  3. Drain the ox-cheek and trim it.

Braise

  1. Place broken bones in an oval stewpan and add the ox-cheek.

  2. Garnish with carrot, onion, celery, parsley, cloves, mace, and peppercorns.

  3. Moisten the stew with broth or water (add salt if using water).

  4. Braise gently by the stove-fire for about two hours.

  5. Carefully remove the ox-cheek and press it between two dishes.

Make the sauces

  1. Use half the broth to prepare a brown sauce.

  2. Reduce the remaining broth to a half glaze.

Finish and serve

  1. Cut the ox-cheek into twelve equal pieces, shape them, and trim them neatly.

  2. Place the pieces in a sauté pan with the half-glaze and cover the pan.

  3. Simmer gently until warmed through, then quickly boil over a brisk fire for three minutes.

  4. Coat the pieces in their glaze and arrange them in a circle on a serving dish.

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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 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

Ox-cheek
Long gentle braising turns the tough connective tissue tender and gives the meat its body.
Broth
Liquid that braises the meat and, reduced, forms the glaze that coats the pieces.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the finished dish.
Glaze
Concentrated stock that adds savoury depth and a glossy coating to the meat.

The step that matters

Braise gently, without boiling. A gentle simmer lets collagen in the cheek break down slowly into gelatin, giving tender, moist meat. A rolling boil toughens the muscle fibres and can leave the meat stringy.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, onion, celery, parsley, clove, butter):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, onion, celery, parsley, clove, butter. 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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