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Cold Meat Shape

A cold meat shape made with minced meat, macaroni, breadcrumbs, butter, egg, salt, and pepper, steamed for one hour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cold Meat Shape

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the macaroni and boil until tender, then chop it up.

  2. Mince the meat and mix it with the chopped macaroni.

Mix and steam

  1. Add the melted butter and the slightly beaten egg.

  2. Mix all ingredients together, put into a mold, and steam for one 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.

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

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

  2. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

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

  3. Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

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

  4. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Meat
Forms the bulk of the shape and gives it its savory flavor.
Egg
Binds the mixture so it holds its shape when cold and sliced.
Macaroni
Adds body and a firm texture that helps the shape hold together.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to keep the mixture from drying out during steaming.
Bread crumbs
Absorbs moisture and helps bind the mixture into a firm loaf.

The step that matters

Packing the mold before steaming. Mixture packed loosely can leave gaps or crumble when cooled and sliced. Pressing it firmly into the mold helps it set into a compact shape, and steaming gently cooks the egg through without toughening the meat.

“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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