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Spiced Beef

A loaf of spiced beef made with beef, suet, eggs, bread crumbs, cream, butter, summer savory, salt, pepper, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Summer savory and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 263 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Spiced Beef

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make and shape the loaf

  1. In a large bowl, mix the chopped beef, suet, eggs, bread crumbs, cream, butter, summer savory, salt, and pepper.

  2. Work the mixture into a loaf, using flour to bind it.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the loaf in a pan and baste with butter and water.

  2. Bake for about 2 hours, or until cooked through.

  3. Slice and serve cold.

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. Summer savory + flourtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together263 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Summer savory + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together671 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  4. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Raw beef
Provides the main body and savory flavor of the loaf.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the loaf moist and tender as it cooks.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firm when baked.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and fat, giving the loaf a light, sliceable texture.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness to the mixture.

The step that matters

Bake until cooked through. The loaf is dense and holds a large amount of raw meat, so it must reach a safe internal temperature throughout. Baking time alone may not guarantee this, and a thick loaf can look browned outside while remaining undercooked in the centre.

Swap the summer savory

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Summer savorythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, egg, bread, cream, butter, 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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