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Olives, Beef

Beef rolls made from thinly sliced rump steak, coated with forcemeat, fried, then simmered in stock and thickened gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Olives, Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rolls

  1. Cut the rump steak into very thin slices, about 4 inches long and 2 inches wide.

  2. Prepare a forcemeat by mixing bread crumbs, suet, parsley, herbs, egg, pepper, and salt.

  3. Place a little forcemeat on each piece of steak, roll it up tightly, and secure with a skewer or string.

  4. Dip the rolls in egg and then in bread crumbs.

Cook and finish

  1. Fry the rolls in hot oil until slightly browned.

  2. Drain excess fat and simmer the rolls in stock for about 30 minutes.

  3. If the stock is poor, add ¼ pound of gravy beef.

  4. Before serving, thicken the gravy with flour and add ketchup or sherry/port.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  3. Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Bread + beeftop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Flour + ketchuptop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,435 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Rump steak
Forms the outer wrap and provides the meaty body of each roll.
Bread crumbs
Bind the forcemeat and form a crisp coating on the rolls when fried.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the forcemeat moist and rich during simmering.
Egg
Binds the forcemeat and the coating so the crumbs adhere to the rolls.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid into a gravy.
Ketchup or sherry/port
Adds acidity or sweetness and depth of flavour to the gravy.

The step that matters

Rolling the steak tightly and securing it. Loose rolls can open or let forcemeat leak out during frying and simmering. Tight rolling with a skewer or string keeps the filling enclosed so the rolls hold their shape and stay moist while they cook.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Capersfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, egg, pepper, beef, flour, ketchup. 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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