Why it works: Pepper and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 85,593 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Broiled Steak
Ingredients
Directions
Grease the bars of the broiler.
Lay the steak on the broiler and hold it directly over a bed of clear coals.
Cook for 5 to 10 minutes.
Serve on a hot platter with salt, pepper, and butter.
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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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Steak
- The main protein, which browns and firms as it cooks over direct heat.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the finished steak when served.
The step that matters
Holding the steak over clear coals. Direct, steady heat from clear coals browns the surface well. Flames or smoldering coals can scorch the outside before the inside cooks through.
“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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