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Hamburg Steak

A flat steak of finely chopped beef seasoned with onion juice, salt, and butter, broiled and finished in the oven.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Hamburg Steak

Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Hamburg Steak

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.

Prepare

  1. Chop the beef finely.

  2. Form into a flat steak about 1.5 inches thick.

  3. Squeeze a little onion juice on each side.

Cook and serve

  1. Place on a buttered broiler and broil over a hot fire.

  2. Set on a hot platter, season with salt and bits of butter.

  3. Place in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 5 minutes to draw the juices to the surface.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

  2. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,847 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Round beef
Forms the body of the patty and supplies the protein that sets when cooked.
Onion juice
Adds savory onion flavor and aroma to the meat's surface.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, helping the meat stay moist and browning the surface.

The step that matters

Broil over a hot fire. High surface heat browns the outside through Maillard reactions, which build flavor. Overcooking dries out the meat, so watch the surface color rather than relying only on the clock.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Potatofits about as well
  2. Onionthe original
  3. Chivefits less well
  4. Tomatofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter. 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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