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Preserved Meat

A preserved meat casserole made with meat, flour, suet, onions, eggs, milk, and seasonings baked in a batter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Preserved Meat

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Cut the meat and onions into pieces.

  2. Cook the onions until tender.

Make the batter

  1. Prepare a batter with the eggs and milk, seasoning with half the salt and pepper.

  2. Grease a baking dish and pour in half the batter.

  3. Place the dish in the oven until the batter sets.

Assemble and bake

  1. Add the meat and cooked onions on top of the batter.

  2. Cover with the remaining batter and seasoning.

  3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 400°F (200°C).

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. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  2. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Meat + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,364 recipes

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

  5. Flour + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32,460 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and help it set firm in the oven.
Flour
Forms the batter's structure as it cooks and sets.
Milk
Hydrates the flour and keeps the batter moist and pourable.
Suet
Adds fat that enriches flavor and keeps the dish moist.
Meat
Forms the main filling and contributes savory flavor and richness.

The step that matters

Placing the dish in the oven until the batter sets. If the base batter is not set before the meat goes on, the filling can sink into it and the layers will blend unevenly. Setting the first layer gives the casserole a firm base.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, flour, pepper, egg, milk):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, flour, pepper, egg, milk. 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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