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Beef Mould

A molded beef dish made with bread crumbs, gravy, eggs, minced beef, liver, and seasonings, steamed and served with horseradish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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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 Mould

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Combine bread crumbs and enough hot beef gravy to moisten them.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil until a thick paste forms.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in egg yolks, minced beef, and prepared liver.

  4. Season with coarse sea salt, black pepper, and cayenne.

  5. Stir in tomato sauce and whisked egg whites.

Mould and steam

  1. Butter a plain tin mould.

  2. Fill the mould with the meat mixture.

  3. Cover the mould with buttered paper.

  4. Steam for one hour.

Serve

  1. Turn the mould onto a hot dish.

  2. Top with grated horseradish.

  3. Serve with savoury brown sauce.

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 + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  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. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  5. Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,013 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Bread crumbs
Absorb the gravy to form a thick paste that holds the mould together.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture and add richness to the set mould.
Egg whites
Whisked to a stiff froth, they lighten the mixture so it rises and sets softer.
Finely minced beef
Provides the main meaty body and savoury flavour of the mould.
Cooked liver
Adds deep, rich flavour and a smooth texture when rubbed through a sieve.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Stiffly whisked whites trap air that gives lift; if they are deflated by vigorous stirring, the mould steams up dense and heavy instead of light.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, beef, egg, liver, pepper, tomato, sauce):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Onionthe original
  4. Potatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, beef, egg, liver, pepper, tomato, sauce. 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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