Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Beef Bolls
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the filling
Heat the butter in a pan and brown the flour in it.
Add the gravy, anchovy sauce, parsley, mace, and pepper.
Boil for 4 to 8 minutes.
Stir in the minced beef.
Assemble and bake
Prepare squares of rough puff pastry.
Place 2 teaspoons of the mixture in the center of each square.
Fold over the edges.
Mark the folded edges with the back of a knife.
Brush with egg or milk.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 16 minutes.
Serve
Serve on lace paper.
Garnish with green parsley.
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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Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Minced beef or mutton
- Provides the savory meat body that the filling is built around.
- Flour
- Browned in butter to thicken the filling and add a toasted, nutty flavor.
- Butter
- Fat that carries the browning of the flour and adds richness to the filling.
- Gravy
- Adds liquid and savory depth, giving the filling a moist, spoonable texture.
- Anchovy sauce
- Adds concentrated savory, salty depth to the filling.
The step that matters
Boil the filling for 4 to 8 minutes. The flour must be fully cooked and the liquid properly thickened before the meat is added. Underboiling leaves a raw starchy taste and a loose filling that can soak the pastry and make it soggy.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, flour, anchovy, sauce, parsley, butter, pepper):
- Capersfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Thymefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, flour, anchovy, sauce, parsley, butter, 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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