Name: Boiled Brisket of Beef, a l'ANGLAISE
Ingredients: 1 piece of brisket of beef (well covered with fat, salted for about 1 week); 3 carrots; 2 large onions (with 2 cloves stuck in each); 2 heads of celery; sufficient cold water; plain boiled turnips (for garnish); plain boiled carrots (for garnish); small suet dumplings (for garnish); gravy (for serving)

Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Boiled Brisket of Beef, a l'ANGLAISE

Ingredients

1 piece of brisket of beef (well covered with fat, salted for about 1 week)
3 carrots
2 large onions (with 2 cloves stuck in each)
2 heads of celery
sufficient cold water
plain boiled turnips (for garnish)
plain boiled carrots (for garnish)
small suet dumplings (for garnish)
gravy (for serving)

Directions

Wash the brisket in cold water and place it in a large oval braising pan.
Garnish with carrots, onions, and celery.
Pour in enough cold water to nearly fill the pan and set it to boil on the fire.
Skim off the scum as it rises to the surface.
Once skimmed, reduce heat and let it gently boil for 4 to 5 hours, depending on the size of the brisket.
When done, transfer the beef to an earthenware dish, trim, and glaze it.
Garnish with boiled turnips and carrots cut into decorative shapes.
Place small suet dumplings at each end, pour gravy under the beef, and 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.

Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,002 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Celery + turniptop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,418 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,873 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,585 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, onion, celery, turnip):

Parsleyfits better
Thymefits better
Marjoramfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, onion, celery, turnip. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.