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Fillets of Beef a LA Comtesse De Pomar

Sliced beef fillets stuffed with marrow, truffle, and farce, wrapped in caul, grilled, and served with Pomar sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,690 recipes. Both carry 12-methyltridecanal, which smells tallowy, beefy. The science ↓

Fillets of Beef a LA Comtesse De Pomar

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fillets

  1. Cut the beef into slices ¼ inch thick and then into rounds the size of a coin, aiming for 2 rounds per person.

  2. Season the rounds with pepper and salt.

  3. Place a slice of blanched beef marrow and a slice of truffle between two fillet rounds, filling the space with beef farce.

  4. Press the fillets together and wrap them in cleaned pork or veal caul.

Grill and finish

  1. Dip the wrapped fillets in beaten egg white and brush with salad oil or clarified butter.

  2. Grill or broil for about 5 minutes, using oiled straws to prevent sticking.

  3. Remove from the grill, brush again with egg white, and sprinkle with chopped truffle.

  4. Return to the grill or place in the oven covered with buttered paper for about 8 minutes.

  5. Serve hot on a bed of cooked beef farce, with Pomar sauce around them.

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. Beef + porktop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,690 recipes

    Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).

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

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

  3. Truffle + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethylphenol (must).

  4. Truffle + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,933 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean fillet of beef
Forms the main meat, giving the dish its tender, juicy bite when cooked briefly over high heat.
Blanched beef marrow
Adds richness and fat that keeps the filling moist during cooking.
Beef farce
Fills the spaces between rounds, adding body and moisture inside the wrapped fillets.
Egg white
Coats the wrapped fillets, helping the caul and farce hold together and set.
Pork or veal caul
Wraps the fillets, holding them together and basting them with its fat as they cook.
Truffle
Contributes a strong, aromatic flavour to the meat and filling.

The step that matters

Grilling the wrapped fillets. Brief, high heat sears the outside and sets the egg white and caul while the centre stays juicy. Oiled straws keep the wrapped fillets from sticking to the grill.

“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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