Why it works: Beef and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,533 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Small Croustades, or Bread Patties, Dressed in Marrow
Ingredients
Directions
Cut slices from the stale loaf, about 1.5 inches thick.
Use a paste-cutter to press out patties, loosening them gently from the tin.
Mark a smaller circle on each patty to hollow out later.
Melt clarified beef marrow in a small saucepan over medium heat.
Fry the patties in the boiling marrow until golden brown.
Drain excess fat from the patties after frying.
Remove the marked rounds from the tops and scoop out some crumb, leaving enough to hold the filling.
Fill the patties with good patty meat and serve hot on a napkin.
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.
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Beef + meattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,533 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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