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Baked Heart

A whole beef heart stuffed with a breadcrumb and butter dressing, baked until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

Baked Heart

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

  1. Split the heart on one side and soak it in salt and water for 2 to 3 hours or overnight.

Make the stuffing

  1. Make a dressing with bread crumbs, butter, egg, salt, pepper, and sage.

  2. Soften the dressing with milk or water as needed.

  3. Fill the heart with the dressing.

Bake

  1. Place the heart in a pan with water to prevent sticking or burning.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 3 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.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Heart
Is the main meat, becoming tender and firm during the long, slow bake.
Bread crumbs
Form the bulk of the dressing, soaking up moisture and giving it body.
Egg
Binds the dressing so it holds together when sliced.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the dressing, softening its flavor and texture.
Sage
Contributes a savory, aromatic herb flavor to the dressing.

The step that matters

Place the heart in a pan with water. Water in the pan keeps the surface from sticking or scorching during the three-hour bake, and the long, gentle heat lets tough muscle tissue break down slowly.

Swap the sage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, egg, pepper, milk):

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

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