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Fifty Lunches

Minced beef patties simmered in brown sauce and tomato puree, served with new potatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Fifty Lunches

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Pass the beef through a mincing machine.

  2. Add the minced bacon, mushrooms, parsley, herbs, shallot, pepper, salt, and eggs; mix well.

  3. Shape the mixture into portions the size of a bantam's egg.

  4. Roll the portions on a floured board to dry, then coat with egg and breadcrumbs.

Fry and simmer

  1. Fry in boiling fat briefly to seal the outside, then drain and dry.

  2. In a saucepan, moisten the portions with brown sauce mixed with tomato puree; simmer for 45 minutes, basting occasionally.

Serve

  1. Lift out with a slotted spoon, place on a hot dish, and strain the sauce over them.

  2. Arrange new potatoes around the dish.

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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Mushroom + shallottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

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

  4. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  5. Shallot + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Forms the main body of the portions, giving them a firm, meaty texture when cooked.
Eggs
Bind the minced mixture together so the portions hold their shape during frying.
Bacon
Adds fat that moistens the portions and carries savoury flavour through the mixture.
Mushrooms
Add moisture and earthy flavour to the minced mixture.
Brown sauce
Moistens the portions during simmering and forms the sauce served with them.
Tomato puree
Adds acidity and colour to the sauce, balancing the richness of the meat.

The step that matters

Frying to seal the outside. Brief frying in very hot fat sets the egg and breadcrumb coating, forming a barrier that helps the portions keep their shape and juices during the long simmer. Overcooking at this stage can toughen the outside.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, mushroom, shallot, pepper, egg, flour, sauce):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Thymefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, mushroom, shallot, pepper, egg, flour, sauce. 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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