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Roasted Filet of Beef, Larded

A roasted filet of beef larded with strips of fat salt pork, cooked with aromatics and served with a pan gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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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 ↓

Roasted Filet of Beef, Larded

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Trim the filet, removing all muscular covering.

  2. Soak strips of fat salt pork in ice water to harden.

  3. Use a larding needle to insert pork strips into the filet, making stitches about 1 inch apart.

Roast

  1. In a baking pan, place chopped onion, carrot, celery, cloves, and bay leaf.

  2. Lay the filet on top, larded side up, and season with pepper.

  3. Dot with butter and add boiling water to the pan.

  4. Bake at 400°F (200°C), basting frequently, for about 45 minutes or until elastic under pressure.

  5. Transfer the filet to a hot platter.

Make the gravy

  1. In the pan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter and mix with 2 tablespoons of flour until brown.

  2. Add 1 pint of broth and strained pan gravy, stir, and boil for 5 minutes.

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. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Beef + porktop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,690 recipes

    Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).

  3. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef filet
Forms the main lean cut that is roasted and carved for the dish.
Salt pork strips
Larded into the meat to add moisture and richness as it cooks.
Flour
Thickens the pan drippings into a smooth gravy when browned in butter.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the flour brown for the gravy.
Broth
Adds savory liquid that forms the body of the gravy.

The step that matters

Bake the filet until elastic under pressure. Meat continues to cook after leaving the oven, and overcooking toughens muscle proteins and dries the lean filet, so basting and checking firmness helps keep it juicy.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pork, onion, carrot, celery, pepper, butter. 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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