Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Beef Bouilli in Different Wats
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the beef fillet in cold water for 5 minutes.
Cut the beef into round slices without cutting through the fillet.
Make a filling with pounded bacon, chopped onion, fat liver, and cooked game, seasoned with pepper, salt, and spice.
Place the filling between each slice of beef.
Roast
Wrap the beef in softened lambskin and cover with oiled paper.
Tie it tightly and secure it on a spit.
Roast until done, then remove the paper and skin.
Serve
Serve with sauce poivrade or your preferred sauce.
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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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 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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Onion + livertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,420 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Beef + livertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together431 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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 meat, and its slices hold the filling as it cooks.
- Bacon
- Adds fat and savoury flavour to the filling, keeping it moist as it roasts.
- Fat liver
- Enriches the filling with fat, giving it a soft, rich texture.
- Cooked partridge or any dressed game or poultry
- Provides the cooked game meat that gives the filling its character.
- Onion
- Adds aromatic sweetness and depth to the filling.
The step that matters
Roast until done, then remove the paper and skin.. The roll is wrapped tightly, so the centre cooks slowly and the outside may not brown. Checking doneness in the thickest part and removing the wrapping only after the meat is cooked keeps the beef juicy and the filling safely cooked.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, liver, pepper, sauce):
- Tomatofits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Onionthe original
- Carrotfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, liver, pepper, sauce. 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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