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Bceuf a LA Mode

A slow-cooked beef stew with wine, brandy, stock, water, calf's feet, bacon, and vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,555 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Cut the bacon into strips about ⅓ inch thick and sprinkle with pepper.

  2. Lard the beefsteak with the bacon strips and tie it up.

Make the stew

  1. In a stew pan, combine the beefsteak, white wine, brandy, stock, water, calf's feet, and bacon rind.

  2. Add the salt and bring to a boil, skimming as necessary.

  3. Once boiled, add the carrots, onion, cloves, herbs, and pepper.

  4. Cover and simmer gently for 4.5 hours.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Carrot + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,555 recipes

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

  2. Clove + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together13,144 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. White wine + brandytop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together615 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Carrot + clovetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,916 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Carrot + oniontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together21,599 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

Beefsteak
Provides the main meat that becomes tender during long, gentle simmering.
Raw fat bacon
Larding adds fat that bastes the lean beef from within as it cooks.
Calf's feet
Release gelatin into the liquid, giving the stock body and a silky texture.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma to the braising liquid, balancing the rich meat.
Carrots
Contribute natural sweetness and absorb savory flavors from the braising liquid.

The step that matters

Skimming after the boil. Skimming removes foam and impurities that rise as the liquid heats, keeping the stock clear and clean-tasting. Simmering gently rather than boiling keeps the meat tender instead of tight and stringy.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (white wine, brandy, carrot, clove, pepper):

  1. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  2. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  3. Parsnipbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, brandy, carrot, clove, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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