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Beef U-LA-vinaigrette

A beef stew simmered with water, wine, herbs, onion, and bay leaf, finished with a vinaigrette sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Beef U-LA-vinaigrette

Ingredients

Directions

Stew the beef

  1. Stew the beef slice and fat in water, wine, herbs, onion, and bay leaf.

  2. Season with pounded cloves and pepper until the liquid is nearly gone, turning once.

Finish and serve

  1. Let the stew cool.

  2. Strain the gravy.

  3. Mix the strained gravy with a little vinegar for sauce.

  4. Serve.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

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

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

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

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Underdone boiled beef
Forms the main body of the dish and is the meat that is stewed until tender.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma to the stewing liquid, adding flavour depth to the gravy.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity to the strained gravy, giving the finished sauce a tangy bite.

The step that matters

Reducing the liquid until nearly gone. If the liquid reduces too far the beef can scorch and stick, while stopping too early leaves a thin gravy. Turning the meat once helps it cook evenly and gives the sauce concentrated flavour.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, white wine, onion, pepper, vinegar, sauce):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, white wine, onion, pepper, vinegar, 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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