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Baked Beef Heart

A baked, stuffed beef heart served with gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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 ↓

Baked Beef Heart

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the heart

  1. Cut across the base of the heart and remove the valves and tough fibrous tissue.

  2. Soak the heart in cold salt water for 2 hours.

  3. Wash the heart thoroughly in cold water.

  4. Put the heart in a pot of cold water, cover, and add 2 teaspoons of salt.

  5. Boil the heart for 10 minutes, removing the scum as it rises.

  6. Take the heart out of the pot.

Stuff and season

  1. In a bowl, mix the bread crumbs, minced onion, sage, pepper, salt, and enough butter or fat to moisten.

  2. Season the cavities with pepper and salt.

  3. Stuff the heart with the mixture.

  4. Secure the stuffing with cross-stitches.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the heart in a baking pan.

  2. Spread beef dripping over the heart.

  3. Sprinkle pepper and salt over the heart.

  4. Pour the boiling-hot stock into the pan.

  5. Bake at 350 °F (175 °C) for 20 minutes per pound, basting frequently.

  6. Serve hot with gravy.

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 + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

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

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef heart
Forms the main meat that becomes tender during slow baking and boiling.
Bread crumbs
Absorb fat and juices, giving the stuffing body and keeping it moist.
Butter, beef dripping, or lard
Moistens the stuffing and coats the heart, adding richness and helping browning.
Onion
Adds savoury aroma and flavour to the stuffing.
Boiling-hot stock
Provides moisture in the pan and flavours the meat and drippings as it bakes.

The step that matters

Boiling the heart for 10 minutes. Boiling briefly and skimming the scum removes impurities and firms the surface before stuffing and baking. Keeping the boil short helps prevent the muscle from toughening and drying out.

Swap the sage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, bread, onion, pepper, butter):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Sagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, bread, onion, pepper, butter. 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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