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Raw Beef Balls

Raw beef balls are small raw meatballs made from shredded steak mixed with cream or brandy, then lightly seared.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Raw Beef Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Scrape the meat into shreds with a knife, and if possible, rub it through a wire sieve.

  2. Mix the raw shredded beef with the cream or brandy, and roll into balls the size of a small marble.

Sear and serve

  1. Grease a frying pan with a scrap of butter, then wipe it out with paper.

  2. Place the balls in the pan and gently move them for about 15 seconds to slightly change their color.

  3. Serve immediately while they are still completely raw.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Raw beef steak
Provides the protein and meaty flavor that forms the main body of the dish.
Cream or brandy
Adds a little moisture and richness to the shredded beef, helping the balls hold together softly.

The step that matters

Searing the balls for only about 15 seconds. Raw beef is safest when it is cooked only on the surface and kept cold, so the browning stays brief. Too long in the pan cooks the interior, changing the texture and the intended raw style. Handle the meat cold and serve it right away.

“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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