Name: Oxford Sausage-meat
Ingredients: 1½ pounds pig meat, cut from the griskins, without skin; ½ pound veal; 1½ pounds beef suet; 2 teaspoons dried, powdered, and sifted sage; pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste; 5 eggs, yolks and whites beaten separately

Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Oxford Sausage-meat

Ingredients

1½ pounds pig meat, cut from the griskins, without skin
½ pound veal
1½ pounds beef suet
2 teaspoons dried, powdered, and sifted sage
pepper to taste
coarse sea salt to taste
5 eggs, yolks and whites beaten separately

Directions

Mince the pig meat, veal, and beef suet separately and very finely.
Mix the minced meats with sage, pepper, salt, and the beaten eggs, then beat the mixture well to ensure thorough mixing.

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.

Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,388 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Veal + beeftop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,784 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Meat + beeftop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,533 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Veal + sagetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together670 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Pig meat: Provides the main body of the sausage and its savoury, rich flavour.
Beef suet: Adds fat that keeps the sausage moist and tender as it cooks.
Eggs: Bind the minced meats together so the mixture holds its shape.
Veal: Contributes a mild flavour and a fine, delicate texture to the meat mix.

The step that matters

Mincing and beating the mixture. Mincing the meats very finely and beating the mixture well spreads the fat and proteins evenly. Thorough mixing helps the eggs bind the meat so the sausage stays cohesive and has a uniform texture.

Swap the sage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, veal, beef, pepper, egg):

Parsleyfits better
Thymefits about as well
Nutmegfits about as well
Sagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, veal, beef, pepper, egg. 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.

Beef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipes

Roast Beef211 recipes

Beef Loaf175 recipes

Corned Beef87 recipes

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Oxford Sausage-meat