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Beef Omelette

A baked loaf of finely chopped beef, eggs, crackers, and suet, seasoned with pepper, salt, and optional sage.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Beef Omelette

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).

Shape the loaves

  1. In a bowl, combine the chopped beef, beaten eggs, rolled soda crackers, and suet.

  2. Season with pepper, coarse sea salt, and sage if desired.

  3. Shape the mixture into two loaves and roll them in additional cracker crumbs.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the loaves in a greased baking dish and bake for about 1 hour.

  2. Allow to cool before slicing.

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

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

  3. Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,847 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  4. Butter + sagetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,312 recipes

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

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Round beef
Forms the main body of the loaves and provides the meaty flavour and texture.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together and help it set firm as it bakes.
Soda crackers
Absorb moisture and help hold the loaves together while they bake.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the loaves moist and rich during baking.

The step that matters

Allow to cool before slicing. Cooked meat and egg mixtures are still setting when hot, so cooling lets the proteins firm up and the loaves hold their shape when cut.

Swap the sage

The recipe marks sage as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, egg, butter, pepper):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Sagethe original

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