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Beef Loaf with Tomatoes

A loaf of seasoned beef and salt pork baked with tomatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,690 recipes. Both carry 12-methyltridecanal, which smells tallowy, beefy. The science ↓

Beef Loaf with Tomatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, combine chopped beef, salt pork, salt, pepper, and herbs.

  3. Mould the mixture into a loaf shape.

Brown and bake

  1. Heat a tablespoon of dripping or butter in a skillet.

  2. Brown the loaf on all sides in the skillet.

  3. Pour the cooked and strained tomatoes over the loaf.

  4. Bake in the oven for three hours.

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 + porktop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,690 recipes

    Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).

  2. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,448 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Pork + tomatotop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,843 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

Chopped beef
Forms the body of the loaf and gives it its meaty structure and savoury flavour.
Salt pork
Adds fat, which keeps the loaf moist and rich as it cooks.
Cooked and strained tomatoes
Adds moisture and mild acidity that flavour the loaf as it bakes.

The step that matters

Browning the loaf on all sides. Browning the outside in fat creates savoury flavour through the Maillard reaction. Skipping it or rushing it leaves the loaf pale and less flavourful.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Potatofits about as well
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Tomatothe original
  4. Onionfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pork, 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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