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Fillet of Beef Larded and Braised

A braised beef fillet larded with bacon, cooked with vegetables and stock, finished with a glaze.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Fillet of Beef Larded and Braised

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Roll up the fillet and tie it securely with string, then lard it neatly.

  2. Place it in a braising pan and cover with buttered paper.

  3. Add the vegetables and enough stock to come halfway up the fillet.

Braise and finish

  1. Cook gently for about two hours, basting regularly.

  2. Once cooked, place the fillet on a hot dish in the oven.

  3. Strain the gravy and boil it rapidly to a glaze.

  4. Remove the string and replace it with silver skewers.

  5. Pour the glaze over the fillet and garnish with vegetables.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

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

Fillet of beef
Forms the main body of the dish and is the tender meat being cooked slowly.
Larding bacon
Adds fat that bastes the lean beef from within, keeping it moist and flavourful.
Stiff second stock
Provides moisture and liquid for gentle braising, later reduced into the glaze.
Onions
Release sweetness and aroma into the braising liquid, flavouring the gravy.
Carrot
Adds sweetness and aroma to the braising liquid and gravy.
Turnip
Adds subtle sweetness and body to the braising liquid and gravy.

The step that matters

Boil the gravy rapidly to a glaze. Rapid boiling reduces the strained liquid and concentrates its gelatine and flavour. If it is under-reduced it stays thin and will not coat the fillet; if over-reduced it turns salty and sticky.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, mushroom, carrot, turnip, parsley, thyme, marjoram):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, mushroom, carrot, turnip, parsley, thyme, marjoram. 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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