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Fricandeau

Fricandeau is a braised meat dish with bacon, carrots, onions, and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fricandeau

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fillets

  1. Make a longitudinal incision in each fillet and insert a slice of bacon into each incision, then pin the incision closed with a small skewer.

Braise

  1. In a stew pan, add meat trimmings, carrot, onion, salt, sugar, and pepper.

  2. Place the fillets on top of the vegetables and pour 1 cup of gravy over the fillets.

  3. Cook slowly until boiling, then simmer until the broth thickens.

  4. Add 2 cups more gravy and let it simmer for 1 hour, half covered.

  5. Cover the pan, place live charcoal on the lid, and baste every 5 minutes until glazed.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove the fricandeau.

  2. Strain the gravy and skim off grease.

  3. Pour the strained gravy over the meat.

  4. Serve on a hot dish with a puree of sorrel and potatoes.

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. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  2. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Meat + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,364 recipes

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

  5. Meat + carrottop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,905 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Fillets of meat
Form the main body of the dish, which becomes tender through slow braising.
Bacon
Adds fat and savory flavor that slowly melts into the meat as it cooks.
Carrot
Adds sweetness and aroma to the braising liquid as it softens.
Onion
Adds savory depth and aroma to the braising liquid as it cooks down.
Gravy
Provides the cooking liquid that tenderizes the meat and forms the glaze.

The step that matters

Basting until glazed. Repeated basting coats the meat with reduced, concentrated liquid, building a glossy surface; too little liquid or heat may leave it dry or pale.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, carrot, sugar, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, carrot, sugar, 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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