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Beef's Heart, Stuffed

A roasted beef heart stuffed with bread crumbs, pepper, onion, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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's Heart, Stuffed

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the heart

  1. Trim and clean the heart.

  2. Sprinkle salt over it and let it stand for 2–3 hours, changing the water 2–3 times.

  3. Wipe the heart dry.

Stuff and bake

  1. Fill the cavities with a dressing of bread crumbs, pepper, salt, and chopped onion.

  2. Add enough butter to the mixture to make the crumbs adhere together.

  3. Place the stuffed heart in a 350 °F (175 °C) oven and bake for 15 minutes per pound.

  4. For better flavor, roast it before the fire if possible.

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

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

  4. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef heart
Forms the main body of the dish and is the meat that is stuffed and baked.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the seasonings and form the dressing that fills the cavities.
Butter
Binds the crumbs together so the dressing holds its shape and adds richness.
Onion
Adds aromatic flavor to the dressing.

The step that matters

Soak and dry the heart before stuffing. Soaking in changed water draws out blood and impurities, which keeps the meat clean-tasting. Wiping it dry before stuffing matters because surface moisture would keep the dressing from sticking and could steam the meat rather than letting it brown.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, bread, pepper, 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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