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Small Filets of Beef with Artichokes

Small beef filets served with artichokes, stale bread, brown gravy, and Béarnaise sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,032 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Small Filets of Beef with Artichokes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Cut slices ½ inch thick from the fine end of the filet of beef, ensuring they are even in size.

  2. Pound the slices with a few quick strokes and reshape them evenly.

Prepare the base and garnish

  1. Cut slices of stale bread to match the size of the beef filets, one for each.

  2. Fry the bread lightly on both sides and place on a hot dish.

  3. Baste the bread with a rich brown gravy, allowing it to soak in.

  4. Heat the under part of the artichokes, one for each filet.

  5. Prepare Béarnaise sauce as directed in another recipe.

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. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  2. Bread + artichoketop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together175 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Artichoke + saucetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together462 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Beef + artichoketop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together140 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Bread + saucetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,934 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Filet of beef
Forms the main body of the dish, cooked as tender, even slices.
Stale bread
Provides a crisp, absorbent base that holds the gravy.
Brown gravy
Moistens the fried bread and adds savory, rich flavor.
Artichokes
Adds a tender, mild vegetable element served with each filet.
Béarnaise sauce
Adds a rich, tangy, buttery sauce that complements the beef.

The step that matters

Pound the beef slices evenly. Uneven thickness causes some parts of the filet to overcook while others stay underdone. Quick, even pounding with a few strokes keeps the slices uniform so they cook at the same rate.

“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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