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 ↓
German Roast
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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the egg and mix in enough milk to soak the bread.
Soak the bread until soft, then mix it thoroughly with the minced steak and season with salt and pepper.
Form the mixture into a square shape using floured hands.
Place it on a greased baking tin and top with a few pieces of butter or suet.
Roast and serve
Roast for about 1 hour.
Serve hot with rich gravy or enjoy cold.
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.
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 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
- Minced steak
- Forms the bulk of the loaf and provides the meaty flavour and body.
- Egg
- Binds the meat mixture so it holds its shape when roasted.
- Bread
- Soaked in milk, it adds moisture and keeps the meat tender as it cooks.
- Milk
- Softens the bread so it blends into the meat and adds moisture.
- Butter or suet
- Melts over the top, adding fat that moistens and browns the surface.
The step that matters
Soaking the bread. Bread must be fully soft before mixing so it absorbs liquid and disperses evenly. Dry lumps can leave the loaf dense and uneven in texture once roasted.
“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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