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Meat-loaves, or Meat-cheese

A preserved loaf of seasoned beef, ox organs, and salt pork, formed into a ball and pressed to firm.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,690 recipes. Both carry 12-methyltridecanal, which smells tallowy, beefy. The science ↓

Meat-loaves, or Meat-cheese

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the meat

  1. Boil the beef neck, liver, heart, tongue, and salt pork together until tender.

  2. Remove any gristly or hard parts and chop the meat finely.

Season and press

  1. Season with salt, pepper, and desired herbs, adjusting to taste.

  2. Mix everything well and form into a ball.

  3. Wrap tightly in a clean, thick cloth and place under hard pressure.

  4. Leave under pressure in a cool place for 5 to 6 hours until firm.

Serve

  1. Slice and serve as a relish for tea, optionally adding sliced hard-boiled eggs before pressing.

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 + porktop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,690 recipes

    Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).

  2. Liver + porktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,606 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).

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

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

  4. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

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

  5. Beef + livertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef neck
Provides the main body of the loaf, becoming tender when boiled and then holding together when pressed.
Ox liver
Adds a rich, strong flavour and helps give the loaf its deep colour.
Salt pork
Adds fat, which keeps the chopped meat moist and adds savoury richness.
Hard-boiled eggs
Add firm pieces and mild flavour inside the loaf, giving contrast when sliced.

The step that matters

Pressing until firm. The loaf must be wrapped tightly and kept under firm pressure for hours in a cool place. Pressure squeezes out liquid and packs the chopped meat and fat together, so the slices hold their shape instead of crumbling.

“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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