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Beef Mince

A cooked minced beef mixture simmered with gravy, flour, and Worcestershire sauce, served hot over fried bread or mashed potatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Beef Mince

Why it works: Onion and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Beef Mince

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a pot, combine the minced beef, onion, pepper, salt, and gravy or water.

  2. Add flour and mix well.

  3. Simmer for 30 minutes or until fairly dry.

  4. Stir in Worcestershire sauce and serve hot on fried bread or with mashed potatoes.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

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

Cooked roast beef
Provides the main meat and savoury flavour of the dish.
All-purpose flour
Thickens the liquid so the mince becomes fairly dry rather than soupy.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aroma as it softens into the mixture.
Gravy
Supplies moisture and flavour that the mince simmers in.

The step that matters

Simmer until fairly dry. Flour thickens the liquid as it simmers, and the mince needs enough time to reduce so it holds together rather than staying wet. Stopping too early leaves it soupy.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, pepper, flour, sauce, bread):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Shallotfits about as well
  3. Tomatofits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, pepper, flour, sauce, bread. 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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