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Aberdeen Sausage

A boiled sausage made from minced steak, smoked ham, bread crumbs, egg, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Aberdeen Sausage

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mince the raw steak and smoked ham finely using a mincing machine.

  2. Add the bread crumbs and seasonings.

  3. Beat the egg well and mix it in.

Cook and finish

  1. Shape the mixture into a thick roll and tie it in a well-floured cloth.

  2. Boil for two hours.

  3. Once boiled, roll in bread crumbs and let it cool.

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 + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  3. Mustard + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  5. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Steak
Provides the main meaty body and texture of the sausage.
Smoked ham
Adds savoury, smoky flavour to the mixture.
Bread crumbs
Absorbs moisture and helps bind the mixture into a firm roll.
Egg
Binds the minced meat and crumbs together as it sets.

The step that matters

Tying the roll in a floured cloth. The cloth must be tight and well floured so the roll holds its shape while boiling. A loose wrap lets water in and the sausage can fall apart.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, sugar, egg, bread, pepper, nutmeg):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Asparagusfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, sugar, egg, bread, pepper, nutmeg. 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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