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Hamburg Steak

A ground beef patty made from finely chopped round steak, seasoned, coated in flour, fried, then simmered in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Hamburg Steak

Why it works: Pepper and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Hamburg Steak

four cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the patties

  1. Chop the round steak very fine and add salt, pepper, and onion juice.

  2. Beat the egg and mix it with the meat mixture.

  3. Divide the mixture into four equal portions and shape into round cakes, about 1 inch thick.

  4. Dredge both sides of the cakes with flour.

Cook and simmer

  1. Fry the cakes in the drippings, turning to brown both sides.

  2. Once browned, add the boiling water, cover closely, and simmer for 45 minutes.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  2. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Onion + flourtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32,460 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Pepper + eggtop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

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

Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Round steak
Forms the main body of the patties and provides the meaty flavor and texture.
Egg
Binds the chopped meat so the cakes hold their shape while cooking.
Flour
Dries the surface of the cakes so they brown well in the drippings.
Drippings
Conduct heat for frying and add rich, savory flavor and browning.

The step that matters

Browning the cakes before adding water. Frying until both sides are well browned develops deep flavor through the Maillard reaction. Adding the water too early would steam the cakes instead, leaving them pale and less flavorful.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, egg, flour):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, egg, flour. 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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