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Creamed Corned Beef Au Gratin

A baked dish of shredded corned beef in a creamy cheese sauce topped with breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Creamed Corned Beef Au Gratin

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the sauce

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Melt the butter over medium heat in a saucepan.

  3. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.

  4. Gradually add the milk, stirring until thickened.

Assemble and bake

  1. Add the shredded corned beef and cheese, mixing well.

  2. Season with salt and pepper.

  3. Transfer the mixture to a baking dish.

  4. Top the mixture with breadcrumbs.

  5. Bake for 25-30 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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Cooked corned beef
Provides the main savory meat filling and body of the dish.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that thickens with the flour into a creamy sauce.
Butter
Adds fat and flavor and helps form the roux with the flour.
All-purpose flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce when cooked with the butter.
Shredded cheese
Melts into the sauce for richness and a stretchy, savory texture.
Breadcrumbs
Forms a crisp topping that browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Gradually add the milk, stirring until thickened. Adding milk slowly while stirring keeps the flour evenly dispersed, so the sauce thickens smoothly without lumps.

“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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