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Beefsteak Scalloped

Layered raw beefsteak with breadcrumbs, butter, and egg mixture, then baked until cooked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Beefsteak Scalloped

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Grease a baking dish with butter.

Assemble the layers

  1. Layer the chopped steak in the dish, followed by a layer of bread crumbs. Sprinkle with bits of butter, pepper, and salt.

  2. Repeat the layers with the remaining meat, bread crumbs, pepper, and salt.

  3. Beat the egg thoroughly, then mix in the milk and water.

  4. Pour the egg mixture carefully over the layers.

  5. Dot the top with additional bits of butter.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover the dish and bake for 30 to 45 minutes until steamed through.

  2. Remove the cover and brown the top before serving.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 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

Raw steak
Forms the main body of the dish and becomes tender as it cooks through.
Egg
Binds the mixture and helps it set as it bakes.
Milk
Adds moisture and richness to the egg mixture.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and help give the layers structure.

The step that matters

Covering the dish while baking. Keeping the cover on traps steam so the meat cooks through gently and stays moist. Removing it at the end lets the top brown, which adds color and flavor.

“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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