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Braised Fillet of Beef a LA Jardiniere

A braised beef fillet wrapped in bacon, cooked with onions, carrots, herbs, and a sherry consommé.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme 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 ↓

Braised Fillet of Beef a LA Jardiniere

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fillet

  1. Trim the rump fillet and remove the skin.

  2. Dip the bacon slices in the parsley, thyme, and green onions.

  3. Sprinkle the fillet with salt and pepper.

  4. Tie the bacon around the fillet.

  5. Line a braising pan with bacon slices.

  6. Place the fillet inside the pan.

Braise

  1. Add the button onions, sliced carrots, and bay leaf.

  2. Pour in the consomme and sherry.

  3. Cover and let it stew for 2.5 hours, basting frequently.

  4. Remove the fillet from the pan.

  5. Place the fillet in the oven to set the glaze, avoiding burning.

Make the gravy and serve

  1. Cool the cooking liquid in a pie dish.

  2. Remove the fat from the liquid.

  3. Return the gravy to the braising pan.

  4. Reduce the gravy by boiling to two-thirds.

  5. Place the fillet back in the braising pan for 5 minutes.

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 + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + carrottop 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. Thyme + carrottop 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

Rump fillet of beef
Is the main cut that becomes tender through slow, moist cooking.
Fat bacon
Wraps the fillet, adding fat and savoury flavour as it renders into the braise.
Consomme
Provides the moist braising liquid that cooks the beef and becomes the gravy.
Pale sherry
Adds acidity and depth to the braising liquid and the reduced gravy.
Button onions
Soften during stewing and add sweetness to the braise and gravy.
Carrots
Soften in the braise, adding sweetness and body to the vegetables and gravy.

The step that matters

Reducing the gravy to two-thirds by boiling. Boiling concentrates the flavour and thickens the liquid as water evaporates. Boiling too hard or too long can make the gravy overly salty or bitter, so watch it closely.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, parsley, thyme, pepper, carrot, sherry. 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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