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Warmed-over Beef

A beef dish simmered in a sauce of butter, flour, stock, Worcestershire sauce, mushroom catsup, salt, and pepper, served hot in a chafing dish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Warmed-over Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sauce

  1. Cut the beef into small thin slices and trim off the fat.

  2. Put one tablespoonful of butter and one tablespoonful of flour into a stew pan.

  3. Cook until a little browned.

  4. Add slowly one cupful of stock, one teaspoonful of Worcestershire sauce, and one teaspoonful of mushroom catsup.

  5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Warm the beef

  1. Add the slices of beef.

  2. Let them become thoroughly hot.

  3. Place the beef in the center of a hot dish.

  4. Pour the sauce over them.

Garnish and serve

  1. Garnish with croutons.

  2. Serve with farina balls.

  3. Serve croutons alone with it.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

572Calories
14 gProtein
13 gFat
98 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
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 Mary Ronald. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Butter
Melts with the flour to form a roux that begins the sauce and adds richness.
Flour
Thickens the stock into a smooth sauce when cooked briefly with the butter.
Stock
Forms the liquid base of the sauce and carries its flavor over the beef.
Beef (in the method)
Main protein, sliced thin so it heats through quickly in the sauce.

The step that matters

Adding the stock to the roux. Pour the stock in slowly and keep stirring so the flour disperses evenly, preventing lumps and giving a smooth, even sauce.

“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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