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Braized Fillet of Beef, a LA Royale

A braised fillet of beef cooked with ham, bacon, truffles, vegetables, and Madeira, served with a reduced sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Braized Fillet of Beef, a LA Royale

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Lard the fillet of beef closely with ham, bacon, and truffles.

  2. Prepare for braising with vegetables and carcasses of game.

Braise

  1. Moisten with Madeira and simmer gently on low heat, basting occasionally.

Finish and serve

  1. Once cooked, glaze the fillet and dish it up.

  2. Strain the braising liquid, clarify, and reduce it.

  3. Garnish the fillet with the reduced sauce and serve with crayfish, truffles, and cock's combs.

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. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,606 recipes

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

  4. Ham + truffletop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together516 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Beef + truffletop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together412 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethylphenol (must).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef fillet
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender through slow, moist cooking.
Madeira
Adds aromatic depth and a little sweetness to the braising liquid, which reduces into the sauce.
Fat bacon
Melts during cooking, adding moisture and richness to the lean beef.
Lean ham
Adds savoury, salty flavour to the beef as it cooks.
Truffles
Contribute a concentrated earthy aroma to the fillet and the finished dish.
Vegetables
Flavour the braising liquid, which becomes the base of the sauce.

The step that matters

Simmering gently on low heat. Gentle heat keeps the braising liquid below a hard boil, so the connective tissue in the beef softens slowly without the meat turning tough or dry. Occasional basting keeps the exposed surface moist.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, ham, truffle, onion):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, ham, truffle, onion. 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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