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Stuffed Steak

A steak stuffed with a breadcrumb mixture of parsley, butter, celery seeds, onion, bacon, and seasonings, baked with water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Stuffed Steak

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Moisten the bread crumbs with rich stock or sweet milk.

  2. Add parsley, butter, celery seeds, onion, bacon, salt, and pepper to the bread crumbs.

  3. Form the mixture into a large ball.

Stuff and bake

  1. Roll the ball securely in a round steak weighing about 2 pounds.

  2. Tie the meat with twine to hold in the filling.

  3. Dredge the steak with flour and place it in a baking pan.

  4. Add ½ cup of water and bake until done, basting often.

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 + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  4. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Round steak (in the method)
Forms the outer meat that wraps and holds the filling while it cooks.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the stock or milk and form the bulk of the moist stuffing.
Bacon
Adds fat and savory flavor that seasons the filling as it cooks.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that keeps the filling tender and flavorful.
Flour
Dries the meat surface slightly so it can brown during baking.

The step that matters

Rolling and tying the steak. If the steak is not rolled tightly and tied securely, the filling can escape during baking. Even tying keeps the stuffing contained and the roll a consistent shape so it cooks evenly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, milk, parsley, butter, celery, pepper, flour):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, parsley, butter, celery, pepper, flour. 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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