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Beef Rolls Pie

A pie of beef rolls simmered in a spiced stock, topped with pastry and decorated with a rose.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 23 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Beef Rolls Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the beef

  1. Mix parsley, onion, salt, pepper, and curry powder.

  2. Spread a small amount of the mixture on beef slices.

  3. Roll the beef slices up.

  4. Grease a stewpan with beef dripping.

  5. Pack the beef rolls tightly inside the pan.

  6. Cover the pan with greased paper.

  7. Fry the covered pan for a few minutes.

  8. Add ¼ pint of water to the pan.

  9. Cook gently on moderate heat for 1 hour.

Make the stock

  1. Combine onion, carrots, turnip, and 1 pint of water in a saucepan to make stock.

  2. Add mace, peppercorns, clove, and salt to the stock.

  3. Simmer the stock for 1 hour.

  4. Add coloring, tarragon vinegar, and gelatine to the stock.

  5. Strain the stock into a bowl.

Assemble and bake

  1. Place the beef rolls in a pie dish.

  2. Let the beef rolls cool.

  3. Add sliced hard-boiled eggs among the beef.

  4. Stand an egg-cup in the middle of the dish.

  5. Pour enough stock into the dish to fill it without touching the pastry.

  6. Cover the dish with pastry.

  7. Decorate the pastry with a rose.

  8. Bake at 400°F (200°C).

  9. After cooling slightly, remove the rose.

  10. Add more stock to the dish.

  11. Replace the rose.

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. Parsley + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Parsley + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Beefsteak
Forms the main body of the pie and provides the meat flavour and firm texture when sliced and rolled.
Gelatine
Sets the strained stock so it holds its shape and gives a firm jelly around the filling.
Hard-boiled eggs
Add a firm, mild contrast in texture and colour among the beef rolls.
Bacon mixture
Adds savoury, salty flavour to the beef filling.
Carrots
Add sweetness and body to the stock that will set around the beef.

The step that matters

Pour the stock without touching the pastry. Gelatine stock sets as it cools, and pouring it too high can soak or lift the pastry lid. Filling only to the stated level and adding more later keeps the crust crisp and the jelly even.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, onion, pepper, beef, carrot, turnip, clove. 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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