Name: Beef Steaks Rolled
Ingredients: beef steaks; high-seasoned forcemeat; coarse sea salt; black pepper; good gravy; 1 tablespoon red wine; catchup; pickled mushrooms

Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Beef Steaks Rolled

Ingredients

Directions

Tenderize the steaks by beating them.
Spread a generous amount of high-seasoned forcemeat on each steak.
Roll the steaks up and secure them with skewers.
Fry the rolled steaks in hot fat until they are a delicate brown.
Transfer the fried steaks to a stew-pan.
Add good gravy, red wine, and catchup to the stew-pan.
Stew until sufficiently cooked.
Serve with the gravy and a few pickled mushrooms.

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.

Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,232 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Red wine + mushroomtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together720 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).
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).
Beef + red winetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,017 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).