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Remnants of Roast Beef

A casserole of leftover roast beef topped with mashed potatoes and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,052 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Remnants of Roast Beef

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 the filling

  1. Cut leftover roast beef into dice-sized pieces.

  2. Place beef in a deep dish and add gravy.

  3. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt.

Top and bake

  1. Boil potatoes, mash them, and mix in the egg.

  2. Spread the mashed potatoes over the meat.

  3. Cover the dish and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 1 hour.

  4. Remove the cover for the last few minutes to brown the top.

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 + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,978 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Beef + eggtop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 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

Leftover roast beef
Provides the main meat filling, already cooked so it only needs to heat through.
Gravy
Adds moisture and savory flavor so the meat does not dry out while baking.
Potatoes
Form the mashed topping that cooks into a soft, creamy layer over the meat.
Egg
Binds the mashed potatoes so the topping holds its shape when spooned and baked.

The step that matters

Removing the cover to brown the top. Covering traps steam, keeping the topping pale and moist. Uncovering for the last few minutes lets surface moisture evaporate, and the heat then browns the starches and proteins for color and flavor.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, egg):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, egg. 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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