Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓
Beef À LA Mode
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the meat
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large pot, place the beef and cover it with water. Bring to a boil, skimming off any scum.
Simmer
Add the calf's feet, carrots, and onions to the pot. Season with salt and pepper.
Pour in the white wine and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for several hours until the meat is tender.
Make the gravy and serve
Remove the beef and calf's feet from the pot. Strain the gravy through a fine sieve, discarding grease.
Reduce the gravy over medium heat until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes.
Serve the beef on a platter, surrounded by calf's feet, carrots, and onions. Pour the gravy over the top.
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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Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together29,058 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Beef
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through long, slow simmering.
- Calf's feet
- Release gelatin into the liquid, giving the gravy body and a silky mouthfeel.
- White wine
- Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the rich, savoury gravy.
- Carrots
- Add natural sweetness and soft texture to the finished stew.
- Onions
- Contribute sweetness and savoury depth to the cooking liquid.
The step that matters
Skimming the boil. Scum rising at the start contains proteins and impurities that cloud the broth and taste bitter, so removing it keeps the gravy clear and clean-flavoured.
Swap the clove
The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, onion, garlic, white wine, pepper):
- Thymefits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, onion, garlic, white wine, pepper. 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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