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Beef Alamode

A slow-cooked beef with bacon, seasoning, and rich gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,485 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Beef Alamode

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Lard the beef with bacon slices dipped in vinegar.

  2. Roll the beef with chopped seasoning and bind tightly.

  3. Place the beef in a saucepan and cook slowly for an hour.

Braise and finish

  1. Pour off the grease, then add broth, gravy, vinegar, and calf foot jelly.

  2. Cover and cook for two more hours, basting frequently.

  3. Once tender, remove the beef and mix flour with cream, then add to the gravy.

  4. Season the gravy to taste and pour over the beef, reserving some for the next day's dinner.

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. Sage + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Sage + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,445 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Rump beef
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender through slow, long cooking.
Fat bacon
Adds fat that bastes the lean beef from within as it cooks.
Broth
Provides the liquid base for the gravy and keeps the beef moist during braising.
Flour
Thickens the gravy so it coats the beef rather than running thin.
Cream
Enriches the gravy, adding richness and a smoother, softer texture.

The step that matters

Cooking the beef slowly and covered. Low, moist heat over a long time breaks down tough connective tissue into gelatin, which makes the beef tender. Rushing with high heat leaves it tough and dry.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, vinegar, clove, sage, parsley, thyme, pepper):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, vinegar, clove, sage, parsley, thyme, 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.

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