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Smothered Beefsteak

A rolled beef steak coated in bread crumbs and herbs, browned with salt pork, then stewed in water until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and summer savory match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 237 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Smothered Beefsteak

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the roll

  1. Lay the meat out smoothly and wipe it dry.

  2. Combine bread crumbs, salt, pepper, butter, sage, summer savory, and enough milk in a bowl to form a stiff mixture.

  3. Spread the mixture over the meat.

  4. Roll the meat carefully and tie the roll with string, securing the ends well.

  5. If desired, add a finely chopped slice of onion to the dressing before rolling.

Brown and stew

  1. Fry the salt pork slices in a kettle or saucepan until crispy.

  2. Add the beef roll to the rendered fat and brown on all sides.

  3. Add water and stew until the meat is tender.

  4. Remove the meat from the pot.

Finish and serve

  1. Thicken the gravy.

  2. Pour the gravy over the beef.

  3. Carve the beef crosswise into slices, cutting through the beef and stuffing.

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. Sage + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together237 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Pepper + summer savorytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together671 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef steak
Forms the outer wrap that holds the stuffing and becomes tender during slow stewing.
Bread crumbs
Absorb milk and butter to form a stiff stuffing that holds its shape when rolled.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the stuffing, helping it stay moist during cooking.
Salt pork
Renders fat for browning the roll and adds savory flavor to the gravy.
Milk
Moistens the crumbs so the stuffing binds into a workable mixture.

The step that matters

Brown the beef roll on all sides. Browning in rendered pork fat builds deep flavor through the Maillard reaction and seals the surface. Skipping or rushing it leaves the gravy pale and bland.

Swap the summer savory

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, pepper, butter, sage, milk, pork):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Summer savorythe original
  4. Parsleyfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, pepper, butter, sage, milk, pork. 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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