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Beef Mince, a LA Maurice

A Mauritian-style beef mince with potatoes, onions, butter, and optional eggs or bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Beef Mince, a LA Maurice

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the chopped potatoes in cold water for 20 minutes, then drain.

  2. Chop the soaked potatoes and onions very fine in a chopping bowl.

  3. Add the chopped beef, salt, and white pepper and mix with a fork.

Cook

  1. Melt the butter in a hot iron frying pan.

  2. Add the beef mixture to the pan and pour in the hot water.

  3. Cover the pan with a weighted tin plate and simmer the mixture slowly for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

  4. If the water evaporates, add ½ cup more hot water.

  5. Check if the potatoes are cooked; if not, stew for an additional 30 minutes.

  6. Season to taste.

Serve

  1. Serve on a hot platter with gravy poured over.

  2. Poach an egg for each person.

  3. Place the poached egg on top of the mince, or serve on buttered toast.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  5. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Round beef
Provides the main body and savoury meaty flavour of the mince.
Potatoes
Thicken the mixture as they break down and add body and mild starchy texture.
White onions
Add sweetness and aroma as they soften during the long, slow simmer.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour to the pan before the beef goes in.
Eggs
Optional topping that adds richness and a soft, runny yolk to the dish.

The step that matters

Simmering slowly with the lid weighted. Slow, gentle simmering keeps the beef tender rather than tough, while the partial cover limits evaporation. Topping up the water prevents the mixture from drying out and scorching on the pan.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, onion, butter, egg, bread):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, onion, butter, egg, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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