Skip to main content
Other

A Blanc

A white cooking preparation made from bacon, beef suet, butter, lemon juice, vegetables and water, simmered and strained.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 17,091 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. In a stewpan, combine the bacon, beef suet, and butter.

  2. Add the lemon juice, bay leaves, cloves, carrots, onions, and water.

Cook and strain

  1. Simmer gently, stirring often, until the fat is melted and water evaporates.

  2. Pour in more liquid than needed for the dish to be cooked.

  3. Boil softly until all ingredients release their flavor.

  4. Season with salt if needed.

  5. Strain for use.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Beef + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,091 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Clove + carrottop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,916 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Carrot + oniontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together21,599 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beef + carrottop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together6,604 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Lemon + carrottop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,350 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Fat bacon
Supplies rendered fat that carries flavor and gives the base its richness.
Beef suet
Adds solid fat that melts slowly, enriching texture and mouthfeel.
Butter
Contributes fat and a rounded dairy flavor to the cooking medium.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich fats and balances their heaviness.
Onions
Release sugars and aromatic compounds as they cook, adding savory depth.
Carrots
Contribute natural sweetness and body to the flavored fat.

The step that matters

Simmer gently and stir often. Fat and water mixtures can scorch or spatter if heated too hard. Gentle heat lets the water evaporate slowly and the solids flavor the fat without burning, which would make the result bitter.

Flavor stand-ins for the lemon

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

  1. Orangebetter flavor fit
  2. Grapebetter flavor fit
  3. Applebetter flavor fit
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, clove, carrot, onion. 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.