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Fricassee of Cold Roast Beef

A fricassee made with thinly sliced cold roast beef, parsley, onion, butter, broth, egg yolks, port wine, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fricassee of Cold Roast Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fricassee

  1. In a stewpan, combine the beef, parsley, onion, butter, broth, salt, and pepper.

  2. Simmer gently for 15 minutes.

  3. Mix in the egg yolks, port wine, and vinegar, then stir quickly over the heat for 1-2 minutes.

Serve

  1. Rub the serving dish with the shallot.

  2. Pour the fricassee into the dish.

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

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

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  3. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  5. Port wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the meat that is gently warmed in the broth so it stays tender rather than toughening.
Egg yolks
Thicken the sauce as they warm, giving it a smooth, creamy body.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the sauce.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth of flavour to the sauce.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rich egg and butter sauce.
Broth
Forms the liquid base that carries the flavour of the dish.

The step that matters

Stirring the egg yolks over the heat. Egg yolks thicken by gentle heat but can scramble if they get too hot or are stirred too little. Keep the heat low and stir constantly so the sauce becomes smooth and does not curdle.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, parsley, butter, pepper, egg, port wine, vinegar):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, parsley, butter, pepper, egg, port wine, vinegar. 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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