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Sausage Meat

A sausage made from minced steak mixed with breadcrumbs and seasonings, baked or fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 507 recipes. Both carry 2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Sausage Meat

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 mixture

  1. Cut the steak into small pieces and mince it using a meat grinder.

  2. In a large bowl, combine the minced steak, breadcrumbs, and seasonings. Mix in 1 cup of gravy or water until well combined.

Shape and cook

  1. Form the mixture into small patties or place it in a pie dish.

  2. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until cooked through, or fry until golden brown.

  3. Serve hot or cold.

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. Marjoram + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together507 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Marjoram + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together687 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Sage + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together642 recipes

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

  4. Marjoram + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Steak
Provides the meaty base and most of the flavour and protein structure of the sausage.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb liquid and help bind the minced meat so it holds its shape.
Gravy or water
Adds moisture so the mixture stays tender rather than dry when cooked.
Sage
Contributes a savoury, aromatic herb flavour that defines the sausage taste.

The step that matters

Mixing in the liquid. Breadcrumbs need the gravy or water mixed in evenly so they hydrate and bind the meat. Uneven mixing leaves dry pockets and loose spots that crumble or cook unevenly.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Rosemaryfits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against marjoram, sage, pepper. 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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