Name: Beef Loaf
Ingredients: 2 pounds beef, finely chopped; 1 egg; 1 small onion, minced; 1 cup bread crumbs or 6 crushed crackers; ½ cup sweet milk or cream; salt and pepper to taste; 1 tablespoon chopped parsley; 2 tablespoons melted butter

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Beef 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

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make and bake the loaf

In a large bowl, mix together the beef, egg, onion, bread crumbs (or crushed crackers), milk (or cream), salt, pepper, parsley, and melted butter.
Press the mixture into a greased loaf pan.
Rub melted butter over the top of the loaf.
Bake for 1 hour.

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.

Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,843 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef: Provides the main body and rich meaty flavor of the loaf.
Egg: Binds the mixture so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Bread crumbs: Absorb liquid and help keep the loaf tender and moist.
Milk or cream: Adds moisture that keeps the meat from drying out as it bakes.
Butter: Adds fat and richness and helps the top brown as it bakes.

Swap the onion

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

Potatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Carrotfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, egg, bread, milk, pepper, parsley, 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.