Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Beef a-LA-Royal
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the beef
Remove all bones from the brisket of beef.
Make holes in the beef about an inch apart.
Fill one hole with fat bacon, a second with chopped parsley, and a third with chopped oysters.
Season the stuffings with pepper, salt, and nutmeg.
Stuff the beef completely and place it in a pan.
Bake and serve
Pour 1 pint of boiling hot wine over the beef and dredge it with flour.
Bake in the oven at 350°F (175°C) for 3 hours.
After baking, skim off the fat and place the meat in a dish.
Strain the gravy over the beef and garnish with pickles.
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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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,062 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 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
- Brisket of beef
- Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender during long, slow baking.
- Fat bacon
- Adds richness and moisture as it melts into the surrounding meat.
- Chopped oysters
- Contribute a savoury, briny flavour to the stuffing.
- Flour
- Dredged over the beef to help thicken the gravy and aid browning.
- Boiling hot wine
- Provides moisture and acidity, building the flavour of the braising liquid and gravy.
The step that matters
Bake in the oven at 350°F (175°C) for 3 hours. Long, gentle heat is needed to break down the tough connective tissue in brisket so it becomes tender without drying out. Too little time leaves the meat chewy; too high heat dries it.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, parsley, oyster, pepper, wine, flour):
- Thymefits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, parsley, oyster, pepper, wine, 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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