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Beef Loaf

A baked loaf of minced beef mixed with breadcrumbs, spices, lemon rind, parsley, butter, and egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Beef Loaf

Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Beef Loaf

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

  1. Finely mince the beef.

  2. Add salt, pepper, grated onion, lemon rind, parsley, melted butter, and beaten egg, then mix thoroughly.

Bake and serve

  1. Pack into a greased baking pan or shape into a roll and wrap in greased paper.

  2. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 45 to 60 minutes.

  3. Baste every 10 minutes with 2 tablespoons of beef drippings melted in 1 cup of boiling water.

  4. Serve with Tomato Sauce or Brown Gravy.

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. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

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

  5. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Raw beef
Provides the main body and meaty texture of the loaf.
Stale bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help the loaf hold its shape while baking.
Egg
Binds the mixture so the loaf sets firm when cooked.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a softer, moister crumb.

The step that matters

Baste every 10 minutes. Basting with hot drippings keeps the surface moist and helps it brown evenly. Letting the surface dry out too long can leave the loaf dry and tough.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

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