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Meat Loaf

A loaf of ground beef, pork, or veal mixed with eggs, onion, breadcrumbs, and milk, baked until cooked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

Meat Loaf

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Grind or chop the round steak and beef suet.

Shape the loaves

  1. In a bowl, combine the meat with salt, pepper, eggs, onion, bread crumbs, and milk.

  2. Mix thoroughly and shape into two loaves.

  3. Roll the loaves in bread crumbs and dot with butter.

Bake

  1. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 1 hour, 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. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Round steak
Forms the main body of the loaf and gives it its meaty structure.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the loaf moist and juicy as it bakes.
Eggs
Bind the meat and crumbs together so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Bread or cracker crumbs
Absorb liquid and soak up juices, keeping the loaf tender rather than dense.
Milk
Adds moisture that keeps the mixture soft and tender during baking.

The step that matters

Mix thoroughly and shape into two loaves. Overmixing the meat compacts its proteins and makes the loaf dense and tough, while undermixing leaves the eggs and crumbs unevenly distributed, so the loaves may crumble when sliced.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, egg, bread, milk, butter. 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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