Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Meat Loaf
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
If using beef, grind the suet with the meat.
In a bowl, combine the ground meat, eggs, cracker crumbs, milk, salt, and pepper.
Form the mixture into two rolls and roll in additional cracker crumbs.
Bake
Place the rolls in a pan with 1 pint of water.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 2 hours, basting often unless using a covered pan.
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Veal + beeftop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,784 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
-
Milk + beeftop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,759 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
-
Butter + beeftop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,847 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal or round steak
- Forms the main body of the loaf and gives it its meaty texture.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and set as it bakes, holding the loaf together.
- Cracker crumbs
- Absorb moisture and help the loaf hold its shape while binding the meat.
- Milk
- Adds moisture so the loaf stays tender rather than dry.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the lean meat moist and flavorful during baking.
The step that matters
Basting the loaf. Lean meat dries out in the oven. Regular basting keeps the surface moist, while a covered pan traps steam and makes basting unnecessary.
“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.
More meat loaf recipes
You might also like
Beef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipes
Roast Beef211 recipes
Beef Loaf175 recipes
Corned Beef87 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.