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Beef Loaf

A loaf of ground beef, salt pork, breadcrumbs, milk, egg, butter, and seasonings baked in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Beef Loaf

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Beef 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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Mix and season

  1. In a large bowl, mix the ground steak, ground salt pork, bread crumbs, milk, egg, and butter.

  2. Season with coarse sea salt, onion, and sage to taste.

Bake

  1. Transfer the mixture to a bread pan and place it in a larger pan filled with water.

  2. Bake for one hour.

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

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Round steak
Provides the meaty body and bulk that gives the loaf its structure.
Salt pork
Adds fat that keeps the loaf moist and rich as it cooks.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and help the loaf hold together with a tender texture.
Egg
Binds the mixture so the loaf slices cleanly once set.
Milk
Adds moisture that keeps the crumbs and meat from drying out.

The step that matters

Place the bread pan in a larger pan of water. The surrounding water bath moderates the oven heat so the loaf cooks gently and evenly, reducing the risk of a dry, overcooked outer edge while the centre sets.

Swap the sage

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Sagethe original

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