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Inside Flank

A beef inside flank stuffed with crumbs, onion, parsley, and spices, slow‑cooked with vegetables and stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 15 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 ↓

Inside Flank

five persons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Take the inside flank, wipe clean with a wet cloth.

  2. Carefully remove skin and fat and lay flat on a board.

  3. Moisten three quarters of a cupful of crumbs with stock.

  4. Add one teaspoonful of salt, one quarter teaspoonful of pepper, one teaspoonful onion juice or one half onion chopped fine, and one tablespoonful chopped parsley.

  5. Spread this mixture on the meat evenly.

  6. Roll and tie with white twine.

  7. Turn in the ends to make it even and shapely.

Braise

  1. Dice an onion, turnip, and carrot and place them in a baking pan.

  2. Lay the rolled meat on the bed of vegetables.

  3. Pour enough stock or water to cover the pan one inch deep.

  4. Add a bouquet made of parsley, one bay leaf, and three cloves.

  5. Cover with another pan and let cook slowly for four or five hours, basting frequently.

Finish and serve

  1. When cooked, strain off the vegetables.

  2. Thicken the gravy with brown roux and serve with the meat.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

58Calories
2 gProtein
0 gFat
13 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Parsley + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  5. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Flank (in the method)
Lean, fibrous cut that becomes tender after long, slow moist cooking.
Crumbs
Absorb stock and seasoning, giving the stuffing body and moisture.
Onion juice
Adds savory aroma and flavor to the stuffing without bulk.
Parsley
Contributes fresh, herbal aroma to the stuffing and bouquet.
Brown roux (in the method)
Thickens the cooking liquid into a gravy by starch gelatinization.

The step that matters

Cook slowly and baste frequently. Low, slow heat over four or five hours breaks down connective tissue so the flank becomes tender. Too much heat toughens the meat and dries the surface, so basting keeps it moist.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, parsley, clove):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, parsley, clove. 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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