Why it works: Beef and leek work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 659 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl butyrate, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Directions
Make the stock
Combine beef and water in an iron pot.
Simmer for 4 hours, skimming frequently.
Remove beef from the pot.
Strain the stock.
Prepare the leeks
Wash and trim the leeks.
Cut the white part of the leeks into 1‑inch lengths and soak the white leek pieces in cold water.
Boil the green part of the leeks in the beef stock until pulpy.
Strain the green leeks through a fine sieve.
Cook and serve
Truss the fowl.
Place the fowl in a stewpan with the white leeks and stock.
Add salt and white pepper.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Simmer gently for 1 hour.
Serve in a tureen or with the fowl separately, reserving a cup of soup to pour over the fowl.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Beef + leektop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together659 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).
-
Leek + white peppertop 17% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together57 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
-
Beef + white peppertop 17% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together616 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lean beef
- Slowly simmered for hours to give the stock its body and rich flavour.
- Leeks
- Add savory flavour and, when the green parts are pulped, body to the soup.
- Fine young fowl
- Becomes tender through slow simmering and provides the main meat of the dish.
The step that matters
Boil the green part of the leeks in the beef stock until pulpy. Green leek must be cooked long enough to break down fully; underdone pieces stay fibrous and would not pass smoothly through the sieve, giving a gritty, uneven texture.
Flavor stand-ins for the white pepper
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, leek):
- Celerybetter flavor fit
- Thymebetter flavor fit
- Garlicbetter flavor fit
- White pepperthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, leek. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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.
You might also like
Illustration
Illustration
Illustration
IllustrationThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.