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Beefsteak Smothebed in Onions

A steak cooked with onions, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Beefsteak Smothebed in Onions

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Heat a little lard in a skillet.

  2. Peel and slice the onions, then layer them over the steak until the skillet is full.

  3. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook

  1. Cover tightly and place over the fire.

  2. Once the onion juice has boiled away and the meat starts to fry, remove the onions.

  3. Turn the meat to brown the other side, then replace the onions.

  4. Be careful not to let the onions burn.

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. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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 steak
Is the main protein that browns and fries in the skillet.
Onions
Release their juice to steam the meat, then soften and sweeten as they cook.
Lard
Fat that conducts heat into the skillet and helps the steak brown.

The step that matters

Removing the onions at the right moment. Onions release juice that steams the meat first; once that juice has boiled away, the meat can fry and brown. Leaving the onions too long lets them burn, which adds bitter flavour to the pan and the dish.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper. 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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