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Scalloped Cold Meat

A casserole of cold cooked meat layered with gravy and breadcrumbs, baked until hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Meat and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,924 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Scalloped Cold Meat

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Assemble

  1. Chop the cold cooked meat into large pieces.

  2. Sprinkle the meat with salt and pepper to taste.

  3. Layer the meat in a dish.

  4. Pour some gravy over the meat.

  5. Add a layer of breadcrumbs.

  6. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used, finishing with breadcrumbs on top.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 15-20 minutes until the meat is hot.

  2. Serve immediately.

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. Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,777 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold cooked meat
Forms the main body of the dish and is gently reheated through in the oven.
Gravy
Adds moisture and savoury flavour so the meat does not dry out while baking.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden topping and help soak up some of the gravy.

The step that matters

Baking until the meat is hot. The meat is already cooked, so the goal is only to heat it through. Overbaking can dry it out, while underbaking leaves it cold in the centre. Checking that it is steaming hot throughout ensures it is safe and tender.

“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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