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Fillets of Beef a LA Godard

A French dish of beef fillets served with veal moulds, a sherry‑arrowroot sauce, olives, mushrooms, and truffles.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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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 ↓

Fillets of Beef a LA Godard

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fillets

  1. Cut the fillet into ½ inch thick rounds.

  2. Trim the rounds carefully.

  3. Sprinkle the chopped onion and parsley over the fillets.

  4. Fry the fillets in butter.

  5. Drain the fillets on a hot cloth.

Make the veal moulds

  1. Decorate small greased moulds with ham and parsley.

  2. Fill the moulds with veal, moistened and seasoned.

  3. Poach the veal moulds until firm.

Make the sauce and garnishes

  1. Boil the stock.

  2. Add arrowroot mixed with sherry to the stock.

  3. Cook the mixture until clear.

  4. Colour the sauce a reddish brown.

  5. Season the sauce to taste.

  6. Cut the mushrooms and truffles into strips.

  7. Stone the olives.

  8. Heat the olives in a little sherry.

Assemble and serve

  1. Pipe creamy potatoes onto a hot serving dish.

  2. Lay the fillets flat on the dish.

  3. Place a veal mould on each fillet.

  4. Pour the sauce over the fillets.

  5. Garnish with olives, mushrooms, and truffles.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Fillet of beef
Forms the tender main meat that is seared and served as the base.
Veal
Provides a moist, savoury filling that sets firm when poached.
Butter
Fries the fillets, adding browning and rich flavour to the surface.
Arrowroot
Thickens the stock into a glossy sauce as it heats.
Sherry
Adds aromatic sweetness and depth to the sauce and olives.
Brown stock
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving savoury body and colour.

The step that matters

Cook the mixture until clear. Arrowroot thickens when heated and turns the sauce clear. Prolonged or vigorous boiling can thin it again, so the sauce should be cooked just until clear and glossy.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, butter, veal, cream, pepper, ham):

  1. Celeryfits about as well
  2. Garlicfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Thymefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, butter, veal, cream, pepper, ham. 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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