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A-LA-mode Beef

A stew of cow heel and ox cheek cooked with clarified dripping, carrots, onions, herbs, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme 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 ↓

A-LA-mode Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Wash the cow heel thoroughly in water.

  2. Remove the gills from the cow heel and cut it into neat pieces.

  3. Wash the ox cheek well in cold water.

  4. Rub the ox cheek with salt and dry it with a clean cloth.

  5. Cut the ox cheek into neat pieces.

  6. Weigh the ox cheek and cow heel to determine the amount of water needed.

  7. Flour each piece of ox cheek.

Brown and stew

  1. Melt the clarified dripping in a large saucepan over medium heat.

  2. Fry the floured pieces of ox cheek in the melted dripping until browned.

  3. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

  4. Wash, scrape, and slice the carrots.

  5. Peel and slice the onions.

  6. Wash and dry the parsley.

  7. Tie the marjoram, thyme, bay leaf, and parsley together with string.

  8. Add the vegetables and herb bundle to the saucepan.

  9. Pour in the appropriate amount of water based on the weight of the meat.

  10. Mix 2 tablespoons of flour with cold water to make a smooth paste.

  11. Add the cow heel pieces to the saucepan along with pepper and salt to taste.

  12. Stir the flour paste into the saucepan.

  13. Cover the saucepan, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let it stew.

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. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Marjoram + parsleytop 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 + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together687 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Ox cheek
Provides the main meat and rich gelatin that gives the stew body.
Cow heel
Adds gelatin and body to the stock as it simmers slowly.
Clarified dripping
Fat for frying the floured meat, promoting even browning and flavour.
Flour
Coats the meat for browning and, as a paste, thickens the stewing liquid.
Onions
Release sweetness and aroma into the stew as they cook down.
Carrots
Add sweetness and body to the stew as they soften.

The step that matters

Browning the floured meat. Frying the floured pieces in hot fat until browned builds deep flavour through the Maillard reaction. Pale, steamed meat gives a flat stew, and stirring prevents the flour from scorching on the pan.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, marjoram, thyme, parsley, flour, pepper, meat):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, marjoram, thyme, parsley, flour, pepper, meat. 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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