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Rolled Steak

A rolled steak stuffed with a forcemeat mixture, stewed in stock and served with a gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Rolled Steak

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Flatten the steak to about half an inch thick using a rolling pin.

  2. Spread the forcemeat mixture over the steak.

  3. Roll the steak up.

  4. Bind the roll with tape.

Stew

  1. Place the rolled steak in a deep dish.

  2. Pour the stock or boiling water over it.

  3. Cover the dish closely.

  4. Stew in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for about two hours.

Make the gravy and serve

  1. Remove the meat.

  2. Thicken the gravy with flour.

  3. Add catsup and seasoning.

  4. Boil.

  5. Pour the gravy over the meat before serving.

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Thyme + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Bread + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 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

Steak
Forms the main body of the dish and becomes tender when stewed slowly.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the forcemeat body so it holds inside the roll.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the stuffing moist and rich during slow cooking.
Egg
Binds the forcemeat so it holds together when the steak is rolled.
Flour
Thickens the stock into a smooth, body-rich gravy.
Mushroom catsup
Adds savoury, umami depth to the gravy.

The step that matters

Stewing in a covered dish at a low oven heat. Keeping the dish tightly covered at a slow, steady heat lets the tough connective tissue in the steak soften gradually while the liquid stays in the dish. Higher heat or an uncovered dish would tighten the meat and dry it out.

Swap the thyme

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, parsley, pepper, egg, flour, mushroom):

  1. Marjoramfits about as well
  2. Thymethe original
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Capersfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, parsley, pepper, egg, flour, mushroom. 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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