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Beefsteak Stuffed

A beefsteak stuffed with mashed potatoes, onions, sage, and baked with dripping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Beefsteak Stuffed

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

  1. Boil and mash the potatoes with the butter, milk, and salt.

  2. Lay the steak flat and spread the mashed potatoes over it.

  3. Sprinkle the chopped onion and sage over the potatoes.

Roll and bake

  1. Roll up the steak and tie it with string.

  2. Rub dripping over a baking sheet and place the steak on it.

  3. Add more dripping on top of the steak.

  4. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for one hour, basting frequently.

Serve

  1. Transfer to a hot dish, remove the string, and pour gravy around it.

  2. Serve with additional mashed potatoes.

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. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  5. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

What each ingredient does

Beefsteak
Forms the outer wrap that holds the filling and cooks into tender, savoury meat.
Potatoes
Make a soft, moist filling that cushions the steak as it bakes.
Dripping
Fat that browns the outside of the steak and keeps it from drying out.
Butter
Adds richness and smoothness to the mashed potato filling.
Onion
Adds savoury flavour and aroma to the filling as it cooks.

The step that matters

Basting during the bake. Basting spoons hot fat over the surface, which encourages even browning and keeps the meat moist while it cooks for an hour in the oven.

Swap the sage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, pepper, butter, milk, onion):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Sagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, pepper, butter, milk, onion. 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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