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Beef A-LA-mode

A slow‑cooked beef stew with spices, herbs, onions, garlic, champignons, and beer or ale, served with its own gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Beef A-LA-mode

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pot

  1. In a large pot, combine the beef with the spices, herbs, pepper, and salt.

  2. Cover the beef with water and add the chopped onions, garlic, bay leaves, and champignons.

  3. Pour in the porter or ale and red wine, then cover the pot tightly.

Stew and finish the gravy

  1. Stew for 6 hours for a small piece or 8 hours for a large piece.

  2. Remove the beef and keep it warm in a dish.

  3. Skim the fat from the gravy, strain it, and return the champignons to the gravy.

  4. Season the gravy with cayenne pepper and salt, then boil for 15 minutes.

Serve

  1. Slice the beef and serve with the gravy.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

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

  4. Allspice + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,289 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Parsley + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 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
Slow stewing in liquid breaks down connective tissue, making the meat tender and moist.
Porter or ale
Adds malty depth and body to the braising liquid as it reduces into the gravy.
Red wine
Contributes acidity and flavour to the braising liquid, helping build the gravy's richness.
Onions
Break down during the long stew, adding sweetness and body to the gravy.
Bacon
Adds fat and savoury flavour to the stewing liquid and gravy.

The step that matters

Keeping the pot tightly covered while stewing. A tight lid traps steam so the liquid stays at a gentle simmer and the beef cooks slowly and evenly. Lifting the lid lets liquid evaporate and can leave the meat dry.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, clove, allspice, parsley, pepper, onion, garlic):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Cuminfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, clove, allspice, parsley, pepper, onion, garlic. 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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