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Dried Beef in Cream

A dish of dried beef simmered in cream or milk and butter, served over toast or boiled potatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,052 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Dried Beef in Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Soak the beef in cold water.

  2. Bring the water to a boil slowly, then drain.

Make the gravy

  1. Add enough cream to the beef to create a gravy and bring it to a boil.

  2. If using milk, mix it with butter and a little flour to thicken, then add to the beef.

  3. Season with pepper and serve over toast or with boiled 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. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Flour + potatotop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,355 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cream + potatotop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Chipped beef
Provides the main meaty substance and savory flavor of the dish.
Cream
Forms the gravy, adding richness and a smooth, silky texture when heated.
Flour
Thickens the milk-and-butter mixture so it clings to the beef as a gravy.
Butter
Adds fat and flavor, and helps the flour thicken the milk into a smooth sauce.

The step that matters

Bringing the water to a boil slowly, then draining. Gradually heating the soaked beef lets it soften and release excess salt and sediment, so the finished gravy is not overly salty or gritty.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, cream, flour, pepper):

  1. Spinachfits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Leekfits about as well
  4. Chivefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, cream, flour, 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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