Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Beef Patties
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a bowl, combine the shredded beef, fat, pepper, salt, and onion or shallot.
Roll out the puff pastry and cut it into 12 rounds.
Assemble and cook
Place the beef mixture on half of the pastry rounds and cover with the remaining rounds.
Seal the edges with egg white.
Fry the patties in hot oil until light brown, about 10 minutes.
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.
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + eggtop 31% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + eggtop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper and egg 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
- Beef
- Provides the savory, meaty filling that the pastry encloses.
- Puff pastry
- Forms a flaky, layered shell that puffs and browns when fried.
- Egg white
- Acts as a glue that seals the pastry edges so the filling stays inside.
- Onion or shallot
- Adds aromatic sweetness and depth to the beef filling.
The step that matters
Sealing the edges. If the edges are not sealed firmly with egg white, the filling can leak into the hot oil during frying and the patty may open or burst. A tight seal keeps the steam and juices inside while the pastry cooks.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, egg):
- Capsicumfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, egg. 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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