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Beef Roll

A rolled beef mixture of steak, ham or bacon, eggs, nutmeg, and bread crumbs, boiled and glazed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Beef Roll

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Pass the beef steak, ham or bacon, and bread crumbs twice through a mincing machine.

  2. In a bowl, beat the two eggs and mix them with the minced ingredients.

  3. Form the mixture into a thin sausage shape.

Cook and finish

  1. Tie it in a cloth like a rolled pudding.

  2. Boil for two hours.

  3. Once cooled, glaze the roll.

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.

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. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  2. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

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

  4. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef steak
Provides the main meat body and savoury flavour of the roll.
Eggs
Bind the minced ingredients together so the roll holds its shape when sliced.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and add bulk, giving the roll a softer, tender texture.
Lean ham or bacon
Adds salty, savoury flavour and some fat to the mixture.

The step that matters

Tying the cloth. The cloth must be wrapped firmly so the mixture compacts into a dense, even roll. A loose wrap lets the roll spread and cook unevenly while boiling.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, egg, ham, pepper, bread):

  1. Parsleyfits about as well
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Nutmegthe original
  4. Celeryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, egg, ham, pepper, bread. 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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