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Beef Loaf

A baked loaf of minced beef mixed with bread crumbs, spices, and butter.

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 the loaf

  1. Finely mince the beef.

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

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

Bake and serve

  1. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 to 60 minutes.

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

  3. 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
Forms the body of the loaf and provides the meaty flavor and structure when cooked.
Stale bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help the loaf hold its shape while keeping it tender.
Egg
Binds the mixture together so the loaf sets firmly when baked.
Butter
Adds fat that enriches flavor and keeps the loaf from drying out.

The step that matters

Mix thoroughly. Evenly combining the egg, crumbs and seasonings distributes the binder through the meat, so the loaf holds together when sliced instead of crumbling.

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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