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Fricassee of Cold Roast Beef

A fricassee made with sliced cold roast beef, parsley, onion, butter, flour, broth, egg yolks, port wine, vinegar, and seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fricassee of Cold Roast Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. In a stewpan, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the chopped onion and parsley, then sprinkle in the flour; fry until golden.

  3. Pour in the broth, season with salt and pepper, and simmer gently for 30 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Mix in the egg yolks, port wine, and vinegar; stir quickly over heat for 1-2 minutes.

  2. Add the sliced beef to the mixture and heat through.

  3. Rub a serving dish with shallot, then transfer the fricassee into it.

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

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

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

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

  3. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

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

Beef
Is the main protein, gently warmed through in the sauce so it stays tender rather than cooking further.
Butter
Carries the onion and parsley and adds richness to the base of the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the broth into a smooth sauce, and browning it slightly adds a nutty flavour.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the sauce into a smooth, creamy texture when stirred over heat.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth of flavour to the sauce.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rich sauce and balances the sweetness of the port.

The step that matters

Stirring the egg yolks into the sauce. Egg yolks thicken by gentle heat, but if the sauce gets too hot or is left unstirred, the proteins can scramble and turn grainy. Stir quickly and keep the heat moderate.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, parsley, butter, flour, pepper, egg, port wine):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, parsley, butter, flour, pepper, egg, port wine. 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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