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Stuffed Heart

A baked beef heart stuffed with bread, onion, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Stuffed Heart

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the stuffing

  1. Soak stale bread in cold water until soft, then wring it dry in a clean towel.

  2. Peel and chop the onion, then fry it in butter until light yellow.

  3. Add the soaked bread, salt, pepper and powdered herbs to the onion.

  4. Stir the mixture until scalding hot.

Stuff and bake

  1. Wash the heart in cold water.

  2. Stuff the heart with the mixture and sew it up.

  3. Place the heart on a baking pan with pared and washed potatoes.

  4. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for one hour.

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

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

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

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

  3. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  5. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 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's heart
Forms the main body of the dish and holds the stuffing while it cooks.
Stale bread
Soaked and wrung dry, it absorbs moisture and gives the stuffing body.
Butter
Fat for frying the onion, adding richness and flavor to the stuffing.
Onion
Frying softens it and builds a sweet, savory aroma in the stuffing.
Potatoes
Bake alongside the heart, absorbing drippings and becoming tender.

The step that matters

Wring the bread dry. Bread soaked in water holds excess moisture. If it is not squeezed dry, the stuffing stays wet and loose and can make the heart cook unevenly.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Tomatofits about as well
  2. Onionthe original
  3. Capsicumfits about as well
  4. Chivefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, potato, bread, 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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