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Rolled Beefsteak

A rolled round steak coated with a forcemeat of bread crumbs, marrow, pepper, parsley, and onion, then browned and slow‑cooked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Rolled Beefsteak

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Trim the fat off the round steak.

  2. Spread the forcemeat made from bread crumbs, marrow, black pepper, parsley, and grated onion over the steak.

  3. Roll the steak tightly and tie the ends.

Cook and serve

  1. Brown the rolled steak in hot butter.

  2. Place the steak in a casserole and cook for 2 hours.

  3. Serve with tomato sauce.

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 + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  4. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  5. Parsley + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,398 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Round steak
Forms the main body of the roll and becomes tender during slow cooking.
Soft bread crumbs
Bind the forcemeat and absorb juices, keeping the filling moist.
Marrow
Adds richness and fat to the forcemeat, improving moisture and flavor.
Butter
Browns the outside of the roll, adding color and a toasted flavor.

The step that matters

Rolling and tying the steak. If the roll is loose, the filling can escape and the meat may cook unevenly. Rolling tightly and tying the ends holds the forcemeat in place during the long cook.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, meat, pepper, parsley, butter, tomato, sauce):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, meat, pepper, parsley, butter, tomato, sauce. 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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