Why it works: Lemon and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,973 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
The Inside of a Sirloin of Beef Forced
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Mix the cucumbers, gravy, and butter rolled in flour.
Toss the mixture with the meat for 5 minutes.
Lift the fat of the sirloin and cut off the meat close to the bone.
Chop the meat small and mix with suet, bread crumbs, lemon peel, thyme, pepper, salt, nutmeg, and shallots.
Add red wine and place the mixture back into the sirloin.
Cover with skin and fat, skewer down, and cover with paper.
Do not remove the paper until serving.
Boil ½ cup red wine with 2 shallots and pour over the dish with the meat gravy.
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.
-
Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,973 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Thyme + nutmegtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,907 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the cucumber
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, bread, lemon, thyme, pepper, nutmeg):
- Shallotfits better
- Leekfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Cucumberthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, bread, lemon, thyme, pepper, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
More stuffed sirloin recipes
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Brown Bread461 recipes
Lemon Sauce236 recipes
Roast Beef211 recipes
Beef Loaf175 recipes