Sliced braised beef boeuf à la mode on a white serving platter surrounded by glazed carrots and onions

Ancien Régime France · France

Menon's Boeuf à la Mode

Name: Menon's Boeuf à la Mode
Total time: 215 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: France
Ingredients: 1.2 kg beef topside or silverside; 150 g bacon lardons; 2 onions, quartered; 3 carrots, cut into chunks; 2 celery sticks, chopped; 300 ml red wine; 300 ml beef stock; 2 bay leaves; 6 peppercorns; 30 g butter; Salt

From La Cuisinière Bourgeoise · Menon · 1746

Verified from original source

A French pot-roast of beef larded with bacon and braised with vegetables and wine.

Historical note: Lardez un morceau de boeuf de gros lardons...

History

Boeuf à la mode, from Menon's 'La Cuisinière Bourgeoise' (1746), is a French braised beef dish that became a cornerstone of bourgeois cookery. The recipe involves larding a large piece of beef, browning it, then slowly braising it with wine, aromatics, and vegetables until fork-tender. Menon's work aimed to simplify haute cuisine for middle-class households, and this dish exemplified accessible yet refined cooking. It gained immense popularity in 18th-century France and remained a classic throughout the 19th century, appearing in Carême's and Escoffier's repertoires. The dish influenced English 'alamode beef' and continues in French home cooking today, prized for its rich, gelatinous sauce.

Sources

Menon, 'La Cuisinière Bourgeoise', 1746
Barbara Ketcham Wheaton, 'Savouring the Past: The French Kitchen and Table from 1300 to 1789', 1983
Philip Hyman and Mary Hyman, translations and commentary in 'L'Art de la cuisine française au XVIIe siècle', 1995
Jennifer J. Davis, 'Defining Culinary Authority: The Transformation of Cooking in France, 1650–1830', 2013
Auguste Escoffier, 'Le Guide Culinaire', 1903

Serves

Prep

30m

Cook

185m

Difficulty

Medium

Ingredients

· 1.2 kg beef topside or silverside
· 150 g bacon lardons
· 2 onions, quartered
· 3 carrots, cut into chunks
· 2 celery sticks, chopped
· 300 ml red wine
· 300 ml beef stock
· 2 bay leaves
· 6 peppercorns
· 30 g butter
· Salt

Method

1
Lard the beef by inserting bacon strips using a larding needle.
2
Brown beef all over in butter in a heavy casserole.
3
Add vegetables, wine, stock, bay leaves and peppercorns.
4
Bring to a boil, cover tightly and transfer to an oven at 150°C.
5
Cook for 3 hours until very tender, slice and serve with the vegetables and sauce.

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