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Fillet of Beef, a LA Napolitaine

A beef fillet braised slowly in white wine with aromatics.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Fillet of Beef, a LA Napolitaine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Remove the sinewy skin from the fillet of beef using a thin-bladed knife.

  2. Lard the fillet closely in the usual manner.

Braise

  1. In a narrow oblong braising pan, place the trimmings on the drainer.

  2. Add the fillet and garnish with carrot, celery, onions, parsley, green onions, thyme, bay leaf, and mace.

  3. Moisten with the bottle of light white wine.

  4. Cover with well-buttered paper and place the lid on the pan.

  5. Cook gently on a slow fire with live embers for several hours.

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  5. Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 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

Beef fillet
Is the main cut, and slow braising makes its meat tender and moist.
Light white wine
Moistens the pan, creating a flavourful liquid that gently cooks and seasons the beef.
Onions
Release sweetness and aroma into the braising liquid as they cook slowly.

The step that matters

Cook gently on a slow fire with live embers for several hours. Low, steady heat lets the connective tissue soften without tightening and drying the meat. A fierce fire would toughen the fillet and evaporate the liquid too quickly.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, white wine, carrot, celery, onion, parsley, thyme):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Winter savoryfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, white wine, carrot, celery, onion, parsley, thyme. 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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