Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Meats, Hot and Cold
Ingredients
Directions
ions. Cut into four pieces, season with salt and pep- per; dip them in egg and bread crumbs. Place them in a pan, and pour over each piece enough melted butter to moisten it, then roast in the oven eighteen or twenty minutes. Serve with a cream sauce.
MRS. C. H. MORE.
Steak with Dressing;,
Three pounds of beef from the round, cut thick. Take a heaping pint of bread crumbs, season well with salt, pepper and two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, spread the dressing on the beef, roll it up close, and tie it carefully. Wrap it in a buttered cloth and steam it two hours and a quarter. Or if preferred, bake it, by putting a little butter with a little water and basting the steak with this liquid. Do not let it bake too brown. If oven is too hot cover the steak with a tin pan or cover. Is nice sliced cold.
MRS. C. H. MORE.
Hamburg Steak.
Chop one pound of lean raw meat very fine, remove all the fibre possible. To this add half a teaspoonful of onion juice, half a teaspoonful of salt, quarter of a tea- spoonful of pepper, one egg, and a dash of nutmeg. Make into round flat cakes, dredge them with flour and fry in butter and lard mixed.
MRS. C. H. MORE.
Smothered QttafL
Dress the quail as for roasting, omitting the salt pork, put butter, salt, and pepper in the bottom of a pot, lay in the quail. Cook them three quarters of an hour.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Beef | 100g cooked | 250 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Nutmeg | 1 tsp ground (2.2g) | 12 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Meat | 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.
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.
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Beef + meattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,533 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, meat, nutmeg, egg, pepper):
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, meat, nutmeg, egg, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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