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Galantine, or Roll of Beef

A rolled beef mixture of lean beef, bacon, breadcrumbs, egg, and stock, boiled and served with glaze.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Galantine, or Roll of Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Cut the beef and bacon into small pieces.

  2. Add the breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper; mix well.

  3. Beat the egg, add the stock, and stir into the dry ingredients.

Shape and cook

  1. Shape the mixture into a short thick roll and tie it in a greased pudding cloth.

  2. Boil gently in stock or water for 2 to 2½ hours.

Press and finish

  1. Press until cold.

  2. Before serving, brush with dissolved meat glaze and decorate with creamed butter or aspic jelly.

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

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

  2. Beef + eggtop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Egg and pepper 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

Lean beef
Provides the main meaty body and flavour of the galantine.
Bacon
Adds fat that keeps the mixture moist and rich as it cooks.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb liquid and help bind the mixture so it holds its shape.
Egg
Binds the ingredients together and helps the roll set when cooked.
Stock
Moistens the mixture and adds savoury flavour.

The step that matters

Boiling gently. Vigorous boiling can break up the roll and toughen the meat proteins, so the galantine should simmer gently to stay tender and hold its shape.

“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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