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Bits of Steak

A soup made from sirloin steak pieces, tomato ketchup, browned flour, egg yolk, onion, carrot, and steak fat, served with meatballs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,606 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Bits of Steak

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup base

  1. Cut the bits of sirloin steak into small pieces.

  2. Cook the pieces slowly in enough cold water to just cover them.

  3. Add boiling water and coarse sea salt to taste.

  4. For a plain soup, add enough water to make 1 quart.

  5. Stir in 1 tablespoon of tomato ketchup.

  6. Mix 1 tablespoon of browned flour with the yolk of 1 egg and add to the soup.

  7. Chop a little onion and carrot finely and add to the soup for extra flavor.

Prepare the meatballs

  1. Separate the fat from the lean steak.

  2. Save the fat for frying potatoes.

  3. Chop the lean steak and form into meatballs.

  4. Dip the meatballs in beaten egg, then coat with fine cracker or bread crumbs.

  5. Use some of the fat to fry the meatballs until golden brown.

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. Tomato + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,606 recipes

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

  2. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  4. Flour + carrottop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,029 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Ketchup + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,435 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Sirloin steak
Provides the main meaty flavor and body of the soup as it cooks slowly in water.
Browned flour
Thickens the soup and adds a toasted, nutty depth of flavor.
Egg yolk
Enriches the soup and helps bind and thicken it smoothly.
Onion
Adds savory aroma and sweetness as it softens in the broth.
Carrot
Adds subtle sweetness and body to the soup.

The step that matters

Adding the flour and egg yolk mixture. Flour and egg yolk added directly to hot soup can clump or curdle. Mixing the flour with the yolk first and stirring it in gently helps the soup stay smooth and evenly thickened.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ketchup, flour, egg, onion, carrot):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ketchup, flour, egg, onion, carrot. 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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