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Beef a LA Mode

A braised beef round with bones, herbs, wine, and brandy, served cold with a clarified gravy jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: White wine and brandy work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 620 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Beef a LA Mode

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Braise the beef

  1. Lard the beef and braise it in a pot with the calf's foot, veal or beef bones, herbs, spices, white wine, bay leaves, and brandy.

  2. Cook slowly for 6 hours.

  3. For an easy braising method, tie the pot with thick oiled paper and place it in a moderately heated oven (350°F or 175°C) for several hours.

  4. If wine is unavailable, use a good ale instead.

Make the jelly and serve

  1. Remove the meat and clarify the gravy until it forms a fine jelly.

  2. To color the jelly red, add a small amount of cochineal.

  3. Garnish the cold meat with the jelly.

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. White wine + brandytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together620 recipes

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

  2. Beef + vealtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  3. Beef + white winetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together872 recipes

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

  4. Veal + white winetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together666 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  5. Beef + brandytop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,000 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef round
Lean, tender meat that becomes soft and sliceable after slow braising.
Calf's foot or bones
Releases gelatin into the braising liquid, which sets into the jelly when cooled.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma to the braising liquid, balancing the rich meat.
Brandy
Adds aroma and depth of flavor to the braising liquid.
Bay leaves
Contribute a subtle, aromatic herbal flavor to the braising liquid.

The step that matters

Clarify the gravy until it forms a fine jelly. The jelly sets only if enough natural gelatin from the bones or calf's foot is present and the liquid is cooled fully. Skimming fat and clearing solids keeps the jelly clear and firm.

“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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