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Beef Patties

Beef patties are made from shredded underdone beef mixed with fat, pepper, salt, onion, and wrapped in a butter, egg, and milk dough.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Beef Patties

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Shred the underdone beef and mix with a little fat, pepper, salt, and finely chopped onion.

Make the dough

  1. Make a dough with butter, egg, and milk; roll it thin.

  2. Cut the dough into shapes like apple puffs.

Fill and fry

  1. Fill each shape with the beef mixture and pinch the edges to seal.

  2. Fry the patties in hot oil until golden brown.

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

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Beef + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,759 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Underdone dressed beef
Provides the savory meat filling that forms the body of each patty.
Egg
Binds the dough and adds structure so it holds its shape when rolled and cut.
Butter
Adds fat to the dough, giving it richness and a tender texture.
Milk
Adds moisture to the dough, helping it come together and stay pliable.
Onion
Adds aroma and savory flavor to the meat filling.

The step that matters

Pinch the edges to seal. If the edges are not sealed firmly, the filling can leak out during frying. A tight seal keeps the juices inside and lets the dough brown evenly around the filling.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

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