Name: Scraped Beef Sandwiches
Ingredients: raw beef (from round); bread; coarse sea salt; black pepper (optional)

Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Scraped Beef Sandwiches

Ingredients

raw beef (from round)
bread
coarse sea salt
black pepper (optional)

Directions

Scrape raw beef from the round cut.
Prepare bread as for regular sandwiches.
Spread half of the bread pieces with the scraped beef and season with coarse sea salt.
If desired, add a small amount of black pepper.
Cover with the remaining bread pieces and cut into finger-shaped pieces or triangles.
Optionally, toast the sandwiches delicately on both sides before serving.

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.

Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,032 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,964 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).