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Beef Loaf

A baked loaf made from minced beef, ham, bread crumbs, butter, egg, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the mixture

  1. Mince the beef and ham together.

  2. Melt the butter and mix it with the cream.

  3. Combine the butter-cream mixture with the minced meat, bread crumbs, and egg.

  4. Season to taste and mix well.

Bake

  1. Transfer the mixture to a loaf tin.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 to 1.5 hours.

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. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Lean beef steak
Provides the main meaty structure and savory flavor of the loaf.
Ham
Adds salty, savory flavor and some extra fat to the meat mixture.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and help hold the minced meat together as a loaf.
Egg
Binds the mixture and sets during baking to hold the loaf's shape.
Butter
Adds fat that keeps the loaf moist and gives it a richer texture.
Cream
Adds moisture and softness, helping the loaf stay tender as it bakes.

The step that matters

Bake until fully set. The egg and meat proteins must coagulate fully to hold the loaf together. Underbaking leaves it soft and crumbly when sliced, while prolonged heat dries out the meat.

“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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