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Beef Leaf

Beef Leaf is a rolled beef dish with bacon, ham, and spices, baked until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Beef Leaf

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 filling

  1. Flatten and season the beefsteak slices with salt and pepper.

  2. In a bowl, mix the bacon, shallot, parsley, ham, beef trimmings, spices, bread crumbs, and egg until combined.

Roll and bake

  1. Layer the beef and dressing alternately, then roll up tightly and tie with string.

  2. Place the roll in a buttered bag with butter and caramel, fold and secure the bag.

  3. Cook in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 35 minutes.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Marjoram + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together507 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Thyme + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Beefsteak
Forms the thin outer wrap that holds the filling together as the roll cooks.
Egg
Binds the chopped filling and bread crumbs so the layers hold their shape when sliced.
Bread crumbs
Absorb juices and help the filling stay moist and cohesive during cooking.
Bacon
Adds fat and savory flavor that moistens the lean beef as it renders.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the roll brown and taste rounded.
Caramel
Contributes sweetness and color to the juices and the exterior of the roll.

The step that matters

Rolling the roll tightly. Loose rolling lets the filling shift and gaps open as the meat contracts in the oven. A snug roll keeps layers together and gives even, compact slices.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, parsley, ham, beef, thyme, marjoram, sage):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Shallotthe original
  3. Parsnipfits about as well
  4. Turnipfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, parsley, ham, beef, thyme, marjoram, sage. 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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