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Hamburg Loaf

A loaf of seasoned beef and pork mixed with eggs, butter, milk, and cracker crumbs, baked until cooked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Hamburg Loaf

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 mixture

  1. Chop the beef and pork very fine.

  2. Add salt and pepper, and mix well.

  3. Stir in the beaten eggs and melted butter.

  4. Mix in the cracker crumbs and then the milk.

Bake

  1. Press the mixture into a round loaf.

  2. Bake for 2 hours at 350°F (175°C), basting occasionally with melted butter.

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

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

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

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

  4. Beef + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,759 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

  5. Pork + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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 meaty flavour of the loaf.
Pork
Adds fat, which keeps the loaf moist and juicy as it cooks.
Eggs
Bind the meat so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb liquid and help hold the loaf together, keeping it tender.
Milk
Adds moisture, keeping the loaf from drying out during baking.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and browns the surface when basted.

The step that matters

Chopping the beef and pork very fine. Finely chopped meat blends evenly with the eggs, crumbs and milk, giving a uniform, tender texture. Coarse pieces can make the loaf crumbly and uneven when sliced.

“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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