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Haricot Steak

A steak cooked with onions, tomatoes, peas, carrots, turnips, and herbs in a seasoned broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Haricot Steak

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Chop the onion finely and slice the tomatoes.

  2. Add the green peas, diced carrots, and diced turnips.

  3. Mix the Bisto with a little water and add it to the water.

  4. If using, add the sour milk for extra flavor.

  5. Tie the bay leaf, parsley, and thyme together and add to the mixture.

Bake

  1. Place all ingredients in a greased paper bag, seal it carefully, and cook in a hot oven (400°F / 200°C) for 45 minutes.

  2. For the steak, grease another paper bag, add the rump steak, and cook in the hot oven for about 15 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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,563 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

Rump steak
Provides the main protein, which becomes tender and flavorful as it cooks gently in the bag.
Green peas
Add sweetness and soft texture to the vegetable mixture.
Carrots
Add sweetness and body, softening as they cook in the bag.
Turnips
Add a mild earthy flavor and soft texture as they cook.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and moisture that helps form a savory sauce in the bag.
Bisto
Thickens the cooking liquid and adds savory flavor to the sauce.

The step that matters

Sealing the paper bags. A tight seal traps steam so the food cooks in its own moisture. If the bag leaks, the liquid evaporates and the steak and vegetables can dry out or cook unevenly.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, tomato, carrot, turnip, milk, parsley, thyme):

  1. Chickpeafits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Lentilsfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, tomato, carrot, turnip, milk, parsley, thyme. 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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