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Salsify Au Gratin

Beef slices rolled with breadcrumb and herb mixture, baked in a gratin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Rosemary and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 178 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Salsify Au Gratin

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 the rolls

  1. Brush the upper sides of the beef slices with beaten egg and season with pepper and salt.

  2. In a bowl, mix bread crumbs, minced onion, rosemary, marjoram, mushroom, parsley, minced ham, and a whole egg.

  3. Spread the mixture on the beef, leaving ½ inch from the edges.

  4. Roll the beef slices over the filling and secure each roll with two pieces of string.

Braise and serve

  1. Butter a deep sauté pan and add minced onion, carrot, turnip, and mushroom trimmings.

  2. Set over low heat, add the beef rolls, and fry until browned.

  3. Moisten with broth to half their depth, cover, and cook in a 350 °F (175 °C) oven, basting occasionally.

  4. Once tender, remove the rolls and arrange them in a pyramid on a hot serving 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. Rosemary + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together178 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Pepper + rosemarytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  5. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 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

Beef
Forms the wrapper that holds the filling and becomes tender during slow braising.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and bind the filling so it holds together inside the roll.
Egg
Binds the filling and helps the beef surface brown and hold the mixture.
Mushroom
Adds moisture and savory, earthy flavor to the filling and the pan juices.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness as it softens and flavours the braising liquid.
Ham fat
Adds fat and savory richness to the filling, keeping it moist.

The step that matters

Fry the rolls until browned before adding broth. Browning the outside builds color and roasted flavor through the Maillard reaction. Adding broth too early would steam the rolls instead of browning them.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, egg, pepper, bread, rosemary, marjoram, mushroom. 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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