Why it works: Sauce and ketchup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,099 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Barbecue Potato Cheese Meatloaf
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the meatloaf
Mash up the baked beans.
Mix everything together except the potatoes and the cheese.
Add more liquid or bread as needed to reach desired consistency.
Press mixture into the bottom and around sides of two 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, leaving a large trough in the center.
Reserve about 1-1/2 cups of mixture to cover top with.
Fill and bake
Fill troughs of each meatloaf with mashed potatoes.
Cut cheese into cubes, or grate, and put this on top of the potatoes.
Cover potatoes and cheese with reserved meat mixture.
Bake at 350 for 1 hour.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 7 of 9 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Beef | 100g cooked | 250 |
| Potato | 1 medium (173g) baked | 161 |
| Cheese | 1 oz (28g) cheddar | 113 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Tomato | 1 medium (123g) | 22 |
| Mustard | 1 tsp (5g) yellow | 3 |
| Bean | not in our table | 0 |
| Sauce | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
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.
-
Sauce + ketchuptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,099 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Beans + mustardtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together852 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Beans + potatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together655 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
-
Mustard + potatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,340 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,052 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ground beef
- Provides the main body and savory flavor of the loaf.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorbs moisture and keeps the meat mixture tender rather than dense.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
- Baked beans
- Add moisture, sweetness and body to the meat mixture.
- Barbecue sauce
- Adds sweetness and acidity, and browns on the surface of the loaf.
- Mashed potatoes
- Form a moist, creamy layer in the center of the loaf.
The step that matters
Leave a trough in the center of each loaf. The potatoes and cheese need a well-shaped channel to sit in; if the trough is too shallow or the meat is pressed too thin, the filling can spill out or the loaf can bake unevenly.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, beef, bread, egg, sauce, mustard, ketchup):
- Horseradishfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beans, beef, bread, egg, sauce, mustard, ketchup. 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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