Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Beef Olives
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beef
Beat the beef slices well and brush them with the egg.
Sprinkle with sweet herbs and breadcrumbs, then season with pepper and salt.
Roll the slices tightly and tie them with kitchen twine.
Cook
Place a little gravy in a stewpan and cover the beef with bacon slices.
Cover with paper and cook gently over low heat for 2 hours.
Remove from heat, arrange on a dish, and pour gravy sauce over them.
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.
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + eggtop 31% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rump beef
- Forms the outer wrapper and provides the meat that becomes tender during slow cooking.
- Egg
- Acts as a binder that helps the herbs and breadcrumbs stick to the beef.
- Breadcrumbs
- Absorb moisture and add bulk to the stuffing, keeping the filling soft rather than watery.
- Sweet herbs
- Add aroma and flavour to the filling.
- Bacon
- Adds fat and savoury flavour that seasons the beef as it cooks.
The step that matters
Cook gently over low heat. Gentle, low heat breaks down the connective tissue in the rump beef slowly, making it tender. High heat would toughen the meat and could dry out the rolls before they are cooked through.
“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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