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Blue Cheese Beef Roll

"This is a recipe my mom used to make ahead of time, and bring on boat trips. It's unusual and very, very good. The filling is nice and creamy, and the pastry is rich and tangy."

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Why it works: Beef and blue cheese share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 75 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

The recipe

10 servings
Prep30 min
Cook25 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Cut the butter and cream cheese into the flour with the 1/2 teaspoon salt until crumbly. Add the cold milk and stir until a dough forms. Wrap and chill for 15 minutes.

  2. Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground beef, chopped onion and 2 teaspoons salt. Cook, breaking up the meat, until no pink remains and it reaches 160°F (71°C), about 8 minutes. Drain well.

  3. Heat the oven to 400°F (204°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment.

  4. Let the beef cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the beaten egg, sour cream, blue cheese, chopped black olives and chopped walnuts until evenly combined.

  5. Roll the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 1/4 inch (6 mm) thick.

  6. Spread the beef filling over the dough, leaving a border along the edges. Roll up from a long side like a jelly roll and pinch the seam and ends closed.

  7. Place the roll seam-side down on the baking sheet. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and the filling reaches 160°F (71°C) in the center.

  8. Rest the roll for 5 minutes, then slice to serve.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Beef + blue cheesetop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together75 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Cream cheese + blue cheesetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together70 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Butter + milktop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together81,222 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Beef + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,091 recipes

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

  5. Butter + cream cheesetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,746 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, cream cheese, flour, milk, beef, egg, cream):

  1. Potatobetter flavor fit
  2. Chiveabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Asparagusabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cream cheese, flour, milk, beef, egg, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).