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Beef Omelet Loaf

A loaf of ground beef mixed with eggs, crackers, and seasonings, baked in a pan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Beef Omelet Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make and bake the loaf

  1. In a large bowl, mix the ground beef, beaten eggs, crushed crackers, salt, melted butter, pepper, and sage until well combined.

  2. Shape the mixture into a loaf.

  3. Place a little water and a bit of butter in a baking pan.

  4. Cover the loaf with another pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, basting occasionally.

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 + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

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

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

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

  4. Butter + sagetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,312 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Ground beef
Forms the bulk of the loaf and provides the savory, meaty body.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Crackers
Absorb juices and add body, helping keep the loaf tender and moist.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing flavor and moisture to the loaf.

The step that matters

Cover the loaf with another pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, basting occasionally.. Covering traps steam around the loaf so it cooks gently and stays moist. Basting adds moisture to the surface, while the long bake lets the center cook fully through.

Swap the sage

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Sagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, egg, 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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