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Beef Roll, Or, Canellon De BtEUF.

A beef roll stuffed with bacon, seasoned with pepper, salt, and nutmeg, simmered for hours and served with macaroni in gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Beef Roll, Or, Canellon De BtEUF.

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the roll

  1. Chop and mix the beef and bacon thoroughly.

  2. Season the mixture with pepper, salt, and nutmeg.

  3. Stuff the mixture into a casing or roll and tie it securely.

Cook and serve

  1. In a large stewpan, melt 4 cups of butter over medium heat.

  2. Once boiling, add the beef roll and simmer for 5 to 6 hours, turning every 30 minutes.

  3. Serve with macaroni mixed in gravy and topped with Parmesan cheese.

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. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Beef + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,495 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean tender beef
Forms the main body of the roll and gives it its meaty texture.
Bacon
Adds fat and savory flavor that keeps the beef moist during long cooking.

The step that matters

Simmering the beef roll. Simmering gently for hours over medium heat lets the connective tissue soften and the roll stay tender. Turning it every 30 minutes helps it cook evenly and keeps it from drying or sticking on one side.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Rosemaryfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper. 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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