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Beef Loaf

A loaf of ground beef, salt pork, eggs, cracker crumbs, and seasonings baked slowly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Beef Loaf

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 ↓

Beef Loaf

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Grind the beef and salt pork together.

  2. In a bowl, combine the ground meat with eggs, cracker crumbs, cold water, salt, pepper, and sage. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.

Bake

  1. Transfer the mixture to a loaf pan.

  2. Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 2½ hours.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,527 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the main body and rich meaty flavor of the loaf.
Salt pork
Adds fat that keeps the loaf moist and adds savory flavor.
Eggs
Bind the meat and help the loaf hold its shape as it sets.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb liquid and soften the texture, keeping the loaf tender.
Cold water
Adds moisture so the loaf stays juicy during baking.

The step that matters

Mix well until all ingredients are combined. Mixing evenly distributes the binder and seasonings, so the loaf holds together when sliced. Overworking the meat can make it dense and tough, so stop once the mixture is uniform.

Swap the sage

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

  1. Parsleyfits about as well
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Sagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pork, egg, 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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