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Hamburg Steak in Casserole

A casserole of finely chopped Hamburg steak cooked with onions, carrot, tomatoes, and sherry wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By North End Club (Chicago, Ill.) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Hamburg Steak in Casserole

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop 1 pound of Hamburg steak very fine.

  2. Add 1 onion chopped fine and form into flat cake.

Make the sauce

  1. Put 1 teaspoonful butter in casserole and allow it to become hot.

  2. Add 1 young carrot grated, 1 1/2 cups of tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste.

  3. Place the meat in this sauce and put in about a dozen small onions.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake one-half hour in a quick oven.

  2. When ready to serve, add about 2 tablespoonfuls of sherry wine.

  3. Serve from the casserole.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

427Calories
28 gProtein
27 gFat
12 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
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 North End Club (Chicago, Ill.). 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. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  2. Butter + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  3. Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sherry + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,107 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

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

What each ingredient does

Hamburg steak
Forms the body of the dish, setting firm as it cooks.
Tomatoes (in the method)
Provide moisture and acidity that build the sauce.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aroma as it softens in the cooking.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the casserole.
Sherry wine
Adds aroma and a sharp, winey flavour to the finished dish.

The step that matters

Adding the sherry at the end. Sherry is added just before serving because long cooking drives off its volatile aromas, so adding it late keeps its fragrance and bright flavour in the finished dish.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sherry, wine, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sherry, wine, pepper. 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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