Name: Koast Fillet of Beef, with Mushrooms
Ingredients: 1 fillet of beef; fat bacon; vegetables (your choice); herbs (your choice); spices (your choice); olive oil; lemon juice; 1 pint water; coarse sea salt

Why it works: Olive and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,922 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Koast Fillet of Beef, with Mushrooms

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Preheat the pan until hot.
Trim the fat from the top side of the fillet, leaving a thin layer.
Place the fillet and trimmed fat in the hot pan.
Add 1 pint of water and a little coarse sea salt to create a glaze.
After an hour, when most water has evaporated, increase the oven temperature.
Roast the fillet in a hot oven (400°F/200°C) for 30 to 45 minutes until medium rare.
Avoid piercing the meat; roll it over in the pan using a broad fork and spoon.

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.

Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,922 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Beef + olivetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,220 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Beef + lemontop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,278 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).