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Beef Loaf

A loaf of ground beef, pork, and veal mixed with crackers, eggs, and seasonings, topped with bacon and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Beef Loaf

Why it works: Pork and veal are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,930 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. 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 your oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a large bowl, combine the ground round steak, ground pork, ground veal, rolled crackers, beaten eggs, salt, and pepper.

  3. Add sweet milk gradually until the mixture is moist but not too wet.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the mixture into an oblong loaf.

  2. Place the two slices of bacon on top of the loaf.

  3. Bake in the preheated oven until cooked through.

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. Pork + vealtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,930 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

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

  4. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  5. Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,049 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Round steak
Provides the main beefy body and firm structure of the loaf.
Pork
Adds fat and moisture, keeping the loaf tender as it cooks.
Veal
Contributes a mild flavour and a soft, delicate texture to the meat mix.
Rolled crackers
Absorb liquid and help bind the meat so the loaf holds its shape.
Beaten eggs
Set when heated, binding the mixture together into a sliceable loaf.
Bacon
Renders fat over the top of the loaf, adding moisture and savoury flavour.

The step that matters

Adding the sweet milk. Milk must be added gradually. Crackers absorb liquid unevenly, so too much milk at once can make the mixture soggy and loose, while too little leaves it dry and crumbly.

“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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