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A Rlanc

A white cooking liquor made by simmering bacon, beef suet, butter, lemon juice, vegetables and water, then straining.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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

  1. In a stewpan, combine the bacon, beef suet, butter, lemon juice, bay leaves, cloves, carrots, onions, and water.

  2. Simmer gently, stirring often, until the fat melts and the water evaporates.

  3. Add more liquid than needed for the dish to be cooked.

  4. Boil softly until all ingredients release their flavor.

  5. Skim off any impurities, season with salt if needed, and 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

Bacon
Adds savoury, fatty flavour that carries into the liquor.
Beef suet
Adds fat that melts to enrich the liquor and give body.
Butter
Adds fat and rich flavour as it melts into the liquor.
Onions
Release sweetness and aromatic depth as they cook slowly.
Carrots
Add sweetness and background aroma as they soften.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich fats and vegetables.

The step that matters

Skimming impurities. Impurities rising during the soft boil can cloud the liquor and taste bitter. Skimming them off keeps the strained liquid clear and clean-flavoured.

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.