Why it works: Pepper and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Beef Olives
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a fairly hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the olives
Cut the kidneys into thin slices across.
Place one kidney slice on each slice of meat and roll up tightly.
Stand the rolls on end in a pie dish.
Season with salt and pepper, and moisten with water or gravy.
Top and bake
Line the edges of the dish with paste and cover with the remaining paste.
Decorate the surface with cut leaves of paste, flake the edge, and brush with beaten egg.
Bake in a fairly hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 2 to 2½ hours.
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.
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Pepper + eggtop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Buttock steak
- Forms the outer meat wrap that becomes tender during long, slow cooking.
- Kidneys
- Add rich, savoury flavour and a soft texture inside each roll.
- Rough puff paste
- Forms a flaky, rich crust that puffs and browns in the hot oven.
- Egg
- Brushed on top to give the pastry an even, glossy golden browning.
The step that matters
Roll the meat tightly around the kidney. Tight rolls keep the filling enclosed and stop it from spreading or drying out while the meat cooks slowly. Loose rolls can open up and leak juices into the dish.
“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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