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Beef Cakes

Beef cakes are patties made from minced roast beef, ham or bacon, herbs, egg, and breadcrumbs, fried until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Beef Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mince the roast beef and ham.

  2. Add sweet herbs, pepper, salt, and the beaten egg; mix well.

  3. Form the mixture into cakes.

Coat and fry

  1. Brush each cake with the white of the egg.

  2. Coat with bread crumbs.

  3. Fry in hot oil for 5 minutes until golden brown.

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. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

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

  3. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  4. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Beef + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,729 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Roast beef
Forms the main body of the cakes and provides their meaty flavor.
Ham or bacon
Adds salty, savory fat that keeps the cakes moist and flavorful.
Large egg
Binds the minced meat so the cakes hold their shape.
Egg white
Gives the bread crumb coating a glue-like base so it adheres and browns.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust when fried in hot oil.

The step that matters

Frying in hot oil. If the oil is not hot enough, the cakes absorb grease and the crumb coating turns soggy instead of crisp and golden. Hot oil sets the crust quickly, sealing in moisture.

“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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