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Illinois Cook Book

A dish of finely minced beef cooked with onion, water, pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Owen, Mrs. T. J. V · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Illinois Cook Book

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and cook

  1. Shred the underdone part finely, with some of the fat.

  2. Put it into a small stew pan, with some onion (a very little will do), a little water, pepper and salt.

  3. Boil it till the onion is quite soft.

Finish and serve

  1. Then put some of the gravy of the meat to it, and the mince; don't let it boil.

  2. Have a small hot dish with bits of bread ready, and pour the mince into it, but first mix a large spoonful of vinegar with it.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

452Calories
29 gProtein
28 gFat
22 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 11 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

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

By Owen, Mrs. T. J. V. 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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

  4. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the main meaty body and texture of the dish.
Onions
Soften during boiling, adding sweetness and a mellow aroma to the mince.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the mince a smoother mouthfeel.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the rich meat.

The step that matters

Do not let the mince boil after adding the gravy. Boiling meat at high heat tightens its proteins, making the mince tough and dry instead of tender and moist.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, vinegar, ketchup, onion, pepper, parsley. 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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