Why it works: Thyme and pepper 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 ↓
Hambueg Steak
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beef
Pound the beef slices to tenderize them.
Divide the beef into portions the size of your hand.
Sprinkle each portion with thyme, pepper, salt, and pounded onions.
Place a bit of kidney suet inside each beef roll and tie with twine or secure with skewers.
Brown and braise
Dust the rolls in flour and heat butter or dripping in a frying pan.
Brown each side of the steak in the pan.
Pour in boiling water, cover tightly, and cook slowly on the stove for 10 minutes or longer.
Serve
Serve on a hot dish and pour gravy over the steaks.
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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Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Thyme + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,171 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Beef
- Forms the main body of the dish; slow moist cooking makes the thin slices tender.
- Veal kidney suet
- Adds fat that melts during cooking, keeping the rolls moist and richly flavoured.
- Flour
- Coats the rolls so they brown well and help thicken the pan liquid into gravy.
- Pounded onions
- Contribute savoury sweetness and aroma as they cook inside the beef rolls.
- Butter or dripping
- Fat for browning the floured rolls, adding flavour and a golden surface.
The step that matters
Cover tightly and cook slowly. Gentle, covered simmering in a small amount of liquid breaks down connective tissue in the beef slowly, keeping it tender instead of tough and dry. Too much heat or an uncovered pan lets the liquid evaporate and the meat toughen.
Swap the thyme
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, onion, veal, flour, butter):
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Garlicfits about as well
- Turmericfits about as well
- Thymethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, onion, veal, flour, butter. 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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