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Fillet of Beef “Braise a LA Puree De Tomates.”

A braised beef fillet cooked with wine, brandy, stock, vegetables, herbs, and tomato puree.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Fillet of Beef “Braise a LA Puree De Tomates.”

Ingredients

Directions

Braise the beef

  1. Combine the beef, white wine, brandy, beef stock, onion, carrot, bay leaf, thyme, parsley, pepper, and salt in a stewpan.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Skim the surface carefully.

  4. Let it simmer until the beef is cooked, either by the fire or in the oven.

Make the sauce

  1. Remove the beef from the pan.

  2. Skim the sauce again.

  3. Strain the sauce.

  4. Return the sauce to the heat to reduce.

  5. Stir in the tomato puree.

  6. Simmer together for 10 minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve the sauce around the beef.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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 cut that becomes tender and juicy during slow simmering.
Beef stock
Provides the liquid base that cooks the beef and builds the savoury body of the sauce.
Light white wine
Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the braising liquid.
Tomato puree
Thickens the sauce and adds concentrated tomato flavour and body.
Onion
Releases sweetness and aromatic depth into the braising liquid as it cooks.
Carrot
Adds gentle sweetness and aromatic depth to the braising liquid.

The step that matters

Skim the surface carefully. Skimming removes the foam and fat that rise as the liquid heats, keeping the sauce clean and clear rather than greasy or cloudy.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, white wine, brandy, carrot, thyme, parsley, 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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