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Rolled Steak

A steak rolled with breadcrumbs and herbs, simmered in hot water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and summer savory match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 241 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Rolled Steak

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the steak

  1. If using a porterhouse steak, cut out the bone and pound it to flatten.

  2. Mix bread crumbs, onion, parsley, summer savory, allspice, mace, black pepper, and salt in a bowl.

  3. Sprinkle the mixture on the steak as you roll it up.

  4. Tie the rolled steak firmly with twine.

Cook

  1. Place the rolled steak in a skillet with hot water and cook on the fire for 2 hours, basting occasionally.

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. Parsley + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together241 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Summer savory + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together52 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + allspicetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,289 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Steak
Forms the main body of the dish and, cooked slowly, becomes tender as its connective tissue softens.
Bread crumbs
Absorb juices and onion flavor from the filling, keeping the rolled interior moist.
Onion
Adds savory sweetness and moisture that softens during the long cooking.
Summer savory
Contributes a peppery, herbal aroma that seasons the meat from within.

The step that matters

Cooking the rolled steak in water. The water must stay hot enough to simmer gently for the full two hours. Gentle, moist heat breaks down the steak's connective tissue into tenderness, while a boil or a dry pan would toughen the meat or scorch it.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, onion, parsley, summer savory, allspice, pepper):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Sagefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, onion, parsley, summer savory, allspice, pepper. 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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