Name: Beefsteak Loaf
Ingredients: 3 pounds round steak, chopped fine; 11 soda crackers, rolled fine; 6 eggs, well beaten; 2 tablespoons butter (size of an egg); Salt to taste; Pepper to taste; Savory to taste

Why it works: Egg and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Beefsteak Loaf

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

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Mix

In a large bowl, combine the chopped steak, rolled soda crackers, beaten eggs, and butter.
Season with salt, pepper, and savory to taste and mix all ingredients thoroughly.

Bake

Transfer the mixture into a loaf pan and bake for 1.5 hours.
For best results, prepare the loaf a day in advance to allow for easier slicing.

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.

Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together50,580 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Egg and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Round steak: Provides the main body and meaty structure of the loaf.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and help the loaf hold its shape as it sets.
Soda crackers: Absorb moisture and add bulk, helping the loaf stay tender and hold together.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, keeping the loaf moist as it bakes.

“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.