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Warmed-over Beef

A beef dish simmered in a gravy of butter, flour, stock, Worcestershire sauce, and ketchup, served with toast or potato balls.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Norton, Caroline Trask · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sauce and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Warmed-over Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the beef into small, thin slices.

Make the gravy

  1. Make a gravy by melting two tablespoonfuls of butter and adding one tablespoonful of flour; when browned a little, add a cup of stock or gravy and one teaspoonful of Worcestershire sauce and one tablespoonful of ketchup.

  2. Season the gravy with salt and pepper.

Cook and serve

  1. Add the sliced beef to the gravy.

  2. Simmer for fifteen minutes.

  3. Place the dish on a hot platter and garnish with three-cornered pieces of toast or little ball potatoes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

117Calories
1 gProtein
12 gFat
2 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Norton, Caroline Trask. 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. See the original page.

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. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Sauce + peppertop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,303 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sauce and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

Beef (in the method)
Is the main protein, cut thin so it warms through quickly in the gravy.
Butter
Melts with the flour to form a roux, giving the gravy body and a rich flavour.
Flour (in the method)
Thickens the gravy as it browns with the butter.
Stock
Forms the liquid base of the gravy, adding savoury depth.
Ketchup (in the method)
Adds sweetness and acidity to the gravy.

The step that matters

Browning the flour and butter. The roux must be cooked only until lightly browned; this toasts the flour for flavour and thickens the gravy evenly. Adding liquid too early or skipping the cooking leaves lumps and a raw, pasty taste.

“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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