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Spiced Beef Relish

A baked roll of finely chopped beef seasoned with salt, pepper, sage, butter, crackers, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Spiced Beef Relish

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

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

  2. In a bowl, combine the chopped beef, salt, pepper, sage, melted butter, crushed crackers, and beaten eggs.

  3. Shape the mixture into a roll and place it in a baking dish.

  4. Baste with a mixture of butter and water before baking.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake for about 1 hour or until cooked through.

  2. Allow to cool, then slice and serve.

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. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Sage + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,312 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Sage + eggtop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,100 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Raw beefsteak
Forms the main body of the roll and provides the meaty texture when cooked.
Large eggs
Bind the mixture together so the roll holds its shape when sliced.
Crushed crackers
Absorb moisture and help the roll hold together while it cooks.
Melted butter
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the cooked beef from drying out.

The step that matters

Bake until cooked through, then cool before slicing. Raw beef mixtures must reach a safe internal temperature throughout, and the roll needs time to cool so it sets firmly and slices cleanly rather than crumbling.

Swap the sage

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

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

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