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Galantine of Beef

A braised beef mixture formed into a roly‑poly shape, boiled, chilled, and glazed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Galantine of Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Finely chop the beef and dice the bacon.

  2. Beat the eggs with the stock in a bowl.

  3. Mix the beef, bacon, breadcrumbs, eggs, and stock together.

  4. Add the salt, pepper, chopped parsley, thyme, and marjoram; mix thoroughly.

Shape and cook

  1. Place the mixture in a pudding cloth, shape it like a roly‑poly pudding, and tie tightly.

  2. Boil in stock or water for two hours.

Press and serve

  1. Remove the cloth, retie it tightly, and press between two boards with a heavy weight until cold, or overnight if possible.

  2. Glaze and decorate with butter using a forcer, and serve with chopped aspic jelly or salad.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Buttock steak
Forms the main body of the galantine and gives it a firm, meaty texture when sliced.
Bacon
Adds fat and savoury flavour, keeping the cooked meat moist.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb liquid and help bind the mixture so it holds together when sliced.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set during cooking to hold the shape together.
Stock
Adds moisture and savoury flavour to the filling and to the cooking liquid.

The step that matters

Pressing until cold. Pressing while the galantine cools compacts the mixture and helps it hold a neat, even slice. Cutting it before it is fully cold can cause it to crumble.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Winter savoryfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Sagefits about as well
  4. Rosemaryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, thyme, marjoram. 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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