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Vienna Roast

A roast made from a mixture of beef, veal, lamb, and onions bound with bread and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Vienna Roast

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Grind the meat and onions together.

  2. Soak the bread in cold water, then squeeze out the water.

  3. Mix the soaked bread with the ground meat and seasoning.

Shape and bake

  1. Form the mixture into rolls about 3½ inches in diameter.

  2. Cover the rolls with crust and bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 50 minutes.

  3. Baste well with beef stock while baking.

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

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

  2. Beef + lambtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together896 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

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

Butt beef
Provides the main meat body and fat that keep the filling moist and rich.
Veal
Adds tender, mild meat that softens the texture of the filling.
Dry bread
Soaked and squeezed, it absorbs moisture and gives the filling a binding, tender structure.
Lard
Adds fat that carries flavour and helps the crust brown and turn flaky.
Flour
Forms the crust structure and helps it brown during baking.
Onions
Add sweetness and aroma that season the ground meat mixture.

The step that matters

Baste well with beef stock while baking. Meat and crust dry out in oven heat. Regular basting adds moisture to the surface and helps the crust brown evenly without drying the filling.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, veal, lamb, meat, bread, parsley, pepper):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, lamb, meat, bread, parsley, pepper. 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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