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Beef and Sausage Roll

A boiled sausage roll filled with minced beef, herbs, onion, breadcrumbs, and egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and thyme are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,585 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Beef and Sausage Roll

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Open the skins of the sausages and place the meat in a basin.

  2. Add the minced beef, pepper, salt, thyme, onion, breadcrumbs, and beaten egg, then mix well.

Shape and tie

  1. Turn the mixture onto a floured cloth.

  2. Roll it up.

  3. Tie each end securely.

  4. Pin the center of the roll to keep it together.

Cook

  1. Plunge the roll into a pot of boiling water.

  2. Place it in a steamer with boiling water underneath.

  3. Boil for 2 hours.

  4. Steam for 2.5 hours.

  5. Carefully remove the roll.

  6. Let it stand for a few seconds.

  7. Turn it out.

Serve

  1. Serve with mashed potatoes.

  2. Sprinkle with browned breadcrumbs if serving cold.

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. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

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

  3. Thyme + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Sausages
Provide the seasoned meat that forms the body of the roll.
Beef steak
Adds beefy flavor and a firm, meaty texture to the filling.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and help the filling hold together without becoming wet.
Egg
Binds the filling so it sets firm and holds its shape when cooked.
Onion
Adds moisture and savory aroma to the filling.

The step that matters

Tie each end securely and pin the center. The roll is cooked in boiling water and steam for a long time. If the ends or center are loose, the filling can escape or the roll can unravel, so it must be firmly closed before cooking.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, thyme, egg, flour. 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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