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
Tie the lips of the incised meat together with a small skewer.
In a stew-pan, place the meat trimmings, sliced carrot, sliced onion, salt, sugar, and pepper.
Add the meat on top of the vegetables and pour in ½ pint of gravy.
Braise and glaze
Bring to a boil and cook until the broth reduces and thickens.
Add 1 pint more gravy and let it simmer for 1 hour, half-covered.
Cover the pan and place live charcoal on the lid, lifting it every 5 minutes to baste the meat.
Once glazed, remove the fricandeau and place it on a hot dish.
Strain the gravy, skim off grease, and pour it over the meat before serving.
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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Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Meat + oniontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,364 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Meat + carrottop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Fricandeau
- Is the main piece of meat that becomes tender and glazed through slow simmering.
- Carrot
- Adds sweetness and aroma to the braising liquid as it softens and releases flavour.
- Onion
- Adds savoury depth and aroma to the gravy as it cooks down in the pan.
- Gravy
- Provides the braising liquid that keeps the meat moist and forms the glaze.
The step that matters
Reducing the broth and basting the meat. The broth must reduce and thicken so it can coat the meat as a glaze. If it reduces too far or the meat is not basted, the surface can dry out or scorch before the glaze forms.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, carrot, sugar, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Parsnipfits better
- Turnipfits better
- 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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