Name: Beef Patties, Good
Ingredients: 1 pound tender beef steak or slice from sirloin; Salt and pepper to taste; ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper; 1 tablespoon lemon juice or flavored vinegar; 1 tablespoon roux; ¼ cup good stock or gravy; Optional: chopped mushrooms or tomato pulp; Short or puff pastry for crust

Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Beef Patties, Good

Ingredients

1 pound tender beef steak or slice from sirloin
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice or flavored vinegar
1 tablespoon roux
¼ cup good stock or gravy
Optional: chopped mushrooms or tomato pulp
Short or puff pastry for crust

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 filling

Pass the meat through a meat grinder.
Season the meat with salt, pepper, cayenne, and lemon juice.
Dissolve the roux in the stock or gravy and mix it into the meat.
Cover and let the mixture sit to develop flavor.
If desired, add chopped mushrooms or tomato pulp.

Shape and bake

Shape the patties like mince pies using the pastry.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Bake for about 30 minutes, making a hole in the lids of the patties.

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.

Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,232 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,580 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon + mushroomtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,633 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

Beef: Provides the main body and savory flavor of the patty filling.
Roux: Thickens the stock or gravy so the mixture binds and holds moisture while baking.
Stock or gravy: Adds moisture and savory depth that keeps the meat filling juicy.
Lemon juice or flavored vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the rich meat flavor.
Short or puff pastry: Forms the crust that encloses the filling and browns in the oven.