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Beef Loaf

A baked loaf of hashed beef mixed with spices, crackers, eggs, and stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Beef Loaf

Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Beef Loaf

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

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

  2. In a bowl, combine the cold hashed beef with pepper, salt, cloves, and cinnamon.

  3. Add the rolled crackers or bread-crumbs and the eggs.

  4. Moisten the mixture with meat stock until it holds together but is not too wet.

Bake and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and bake for 25 minutes.

  2. Allow to cool before slicing for serving.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Pepper + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,890 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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

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

  5. Beef + meattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,533 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold hashed beef
Forms the body of the loaf and provides its main flavor and bulk.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set when baked, helping the loaf hold its shape.
Rolled crackers or dry bread-crumbs
Absorb liquid and give the loaf structure so it slices cleanly.
Meat stock
Adds moisture so the mixture stays tender rather than dry during baking.

The step that matters

Moisten with meat stock. Too little stock leaves the loaf dry and crumbly, while too much keeps the eggs and crumbs from setting, so the mixture stays loose and will not hold a slice.

Swap the cinnamon

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Cinnamonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, clove, bread, egg, meat. 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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