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Beef Loaf

A baked loaf of ground beef mixed with salt pork, crackers, eggs, butter, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Beef Loaf

Why it works: Beef and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,690 recipes. Both carry 12-methyltridecanal, which smells tallowy, beefy. The science ↓

Beef Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. In a chopping tray, combine the beef, salt pork, crushed crackers, eggs, salt, pepper, butter, and milk, then mix the ingredients well.

  2. Pack the mixture into a mold or pan.

Bake

  1. Place the mold in a dripping pan filled with hot water.

  2. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1¼ hours, ensuring the pan remains full of boiling water.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Beef + porktop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,690 recipes

    Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  4. Beef + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,759 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

  5. Pork + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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

What each ingredient does

Raw beef
Forms the main body of the loaf and provides the meaty flavor and texture.
Salt pork
Adds fat that keeps the loaf moist and adds savory flavor as it cooks.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set into a sliceable loaf as it bakes.
Crackers
Absorb liquid and fat, helping the loaf hold together and stay tender.
Milk
Adds moisture that keeps the loaf from drying out during baking.

The step that matters

Keeping the dripping pan full of boiling water. The surrounding water bath moderates the heat around the mold, so the loaf cooks gently and evenly. If the water runs low, the edges can dry and overcook before the center sets.

“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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