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Beef Steaks a LA Francaise

Beef steaks served with a parsley‑cayenne butter, lemon juice, and fried potatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Beef Steaks a LA Francaise

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the steaks

  1. Remove the skin from the sirloin.

  2. Cut the sirloin into quarter‑inch round slices.

  3. Season the steaks with salt and pepper.

  4. Brush the steaks with clarified butter.

Make the butter

  1. Mix minced parsley with a slice of fresh butter, a pinch of cayenne, and a small amount of salt.

  2. Place the parsley‑cayenne butter mixture in a serving dish.

  3. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the butter before adding the meat.

Cook and serve

  1. Cook the steaks over a clear, brisk fire until done.

  2. Lay the cooked steaks on top.

  3. Slice the potatoes thinly.

  4. Fry the sliced potatoes until golden brown.

  5. Garnish with fried potatoes.

  6. Arrange the fried potatoes around the meat.

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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Sirloin or rump steak
Forms the main body of the dish, cooked to tenderness over high heat.
Clarified butter
Coats the steaks and carries heat evenly, helping them brown without burning.
Fresh butter
Provides richness and a moist base under the steaks in the serving dish.
Lemon
Adds acidity that brightens the rich butter.
Fried potatoes
Add crisp, browned texture alongside the tender meat.

The step that matters

Cook the steaks over a clear, brisk fire until done. High, steady heat sears the surface quickly, building browning and flavour while the interior stays juicy. Thin slices overcook fast, so watching closely prevents dryness.

“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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