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Fillet of Beef, a LA Macedoine

A braised beef fillet served with a vegetable garnish and béchamel or Allemande sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Turnip and cauliflower match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 286 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Fillet of Beef, a LA Macedoine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Trim the fillet of beef.

  2. Lard the fillet of beef.

  3. Prepare the fillet of beef.

Braise and glaze

  1. Moisten the fillet with ½ cup of good stock.

  2. Braise the fillet in the same manner as before.

  3. Glaze the fillet.

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Prepare each vegetable separately.

  2. Shape the carrots and turnips like small olives or garlic cloves.

  3. Shape the French beans like diamonds.

  4. Toss each vegetable in a little Béchamel or Allemande sauce before placing around the fillet.

Serve

  1. Place the glazed fillet on a serving dish.

  2. Garnish with groups of carrots, turnips, French beans, asparagus heads, and cauliflower buds.

  3. Pour the clarified and reduced braising sauce around the fillet.

  4. Serve.

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. Turnip + cauliflowertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together286 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Asparagus + cauliflowertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together163 recipes

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

  4. Beans + asparagustop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together292 recipes

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

  5. Turnip + asparagustop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together328 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef fillet
The main cut; larding adds fat, and braising keeps the meat moist and tender.
Good stock
Adds moisture and savoury flavour during braising, then reduces to the sauce.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and colour to the garnish once cooked.
Turnips
Add a mild, slightly sweet flavour and firm texture to the garnish.
French beans
Contribute a crisp-tender texture and fresh flavour to the garnish.
Béchamel or allemande sauce
Adds richness and moisture, coating the vegetables so they stay glossy.

The step that matters

Glaze the fillet. Reducing the braising liquid concentrates its flavour and body into a glossy coating. Reduce too far or too fast and the sugars and proteins can scorch and turn bitter, so the glaze should be watched closely.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, turnip, beans, asparagus, cauliflower, sauce):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, turnip, beans, asparagus, cauliflower, sauce. 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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