Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓
Fricandeau De Bmuf
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the meat
Bone and shape the brisket.
Layer it thickly in a stewpan and cover with bacon slices.
Stew
Add stock, wine, onions, herbs, mace, cloves, and garlic.
Stew slowly until tender.
Strain and serve
Remove the meat and strain the sauce, skimming off the fat.
Serve the meat with the sauce and arrange small onions around it.
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.
-
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together29,058 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,400 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
-
Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,368 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
-
White wine + garlictop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,044 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
-
White wine + oniontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,535 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Brisket
- Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender through slow stewing.
- Fat bacon
- Lays fat over the meat, adding moisture and rich flavour as it cooks.
- Stock
- Provides the liquid that gently cooks the meat and forms the sauce.
- Wine
- Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the braising liquid and sauce.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and aroma to the sauce and are served alongside the meat.
The step that matters
Stew slowly until tender. Gentle, slow heat lets the tough connective tissue in brisket break down into gelatin, making the meat tender and moist. Boiling vigorously toughens the muscle fibres and can leave the meat dry and stringy.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (white wine, onion, clove, garlic):
- Thymefits better
- Cuminfits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, onion, clove, garlic. 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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