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Beef Cake

A baked loaf of minced beef, ham, breadcrumbs, onion, parsley, and stock, seasoned with pepper and sea salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Beef Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Grease a plain mold or shallow cake tin and coat it with bread raspings.

  2. Melt the dripping in a pan and fry the onion until slightly brown.

Mix and shape

  1. Finely mince the beef and bacon, then mix all ingredients together, adding more stock if the mixture is too dry.

  2. Transfer the mixture into the prepared mold, pressing it carefully into shape.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover with greased paper and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 45 minutes.

  2. Carefully turn out the cake and pour a little brown sauce around it.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

  3. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cold roast beef
Provides the main body and meaty flavour of the loaf.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and bind the meat so the loaf holds its shape.
Egg
Binds the mixture together and helps it set firm when baked.
Dripping
Adds fat for richness and helps the surface brown during baking.
Stock
Adds moisture so the mixture stays soft and sliceable.

The step that matters

Pressing the mixture into the mold. Packing the mixture firmly and evenly removes air pockets and keeps the loaf from crumbling when turned out. Adding stock when the mixture is too dry keeps it moist, so it binds well and does not bake dry.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, ham, parsley, pepper, egg, bread):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, ham, parsley, pepper, 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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