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Fillets of Beef in Juice

Beef fillets cooked in clarified butter and reduced stock, finished with a glaze.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and garlic are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,165 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Fillets of Beef in Juice

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Cut the beef fillet into slices half an inch thick.

  2. If large, cut into four or fewer slices.

  3. Flatten the slices.

  4. Dip the slices in clarified butter.

Cook and glaze

  1. Arrange the slices in a flat stewpan.

  2. Cook over brisk heat, turning the slices often to retain juice.

  3. When nearly done, drain off the butter.

  4. Add reduced stock.

  5. Press down the fillets to glaze.

  6. Allow the fillets to absorb flavor.

Serve

  1. Arrange the fillets on a dish, leaving a space in the middle.

  2. Detach the glaze with a spoonful of stock or espagnole.

  3. Finish with a bit of butter, pouring it over the fillets.

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. Beef + garlictop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,165 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,847 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Butter + garlictop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,572 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Sugar + garlictop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,208 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef fillet
Is the main protein, cooked quickly so it stays tender and juicy.
Clarified butter
Coats the slices and carries heat for browning without the milk solids burning.
Reduced stock
Concentrates flavor and, reduced to a glaze, gives the fillets a glossy coating.

The step that matters

Turning the slices often. Frequent turning over brisk heat cooks the slices evenly and sears the outside quickly, which helps keep the juices inside rather than letting them drain out.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Pepperfits better
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, sugar. 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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