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Sirloin of Beef

A boiled and then fried sirloin of beef seasoned with bay leaf, onions, cloves, allspice, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Sirloin of Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Divide the sirloin into three parts.

  2. Bone the sirloin.

  3. Cut the fillet into slices or leave it whole.

Simmer

  1. Combine water, bay leaf, roasted onions, cloves, and allspice in a pot.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Add the beef and simmer until tender.

  4. Remove the beef.

  5. Drain it well.

  6. Set it aside.

Fry and season

  1. Season the beef with salt and pepper.

  2. Dredge the beef with salt and pepper.

  3. Heat butter in a stew pan.

  4. Fry the beef until browned.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

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

Sirloin of beef
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender through slow simmering.
Butter
Conducts heat for frying and promotes browning on the beef surface.
Onions
Add sweetness and savory depth to the simmering liquid once roasted brown.

The step that matters

Fry the beef until browned. Beef must be patted dry and fried in hot butter so its surface browns rather than steams. Browning develops rich flavor through the Maillard reaction, which is lost if the meat is wet or the pan is crowded.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, clove, allspice, butter, pepper):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, clove, allspice, butter, pepper. 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.

More sirloin of beef recipes

Stewed 4Roast 3Stuffed 3 See all 3 →

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