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To Fry Beefsteaks

Fried beefsteaks served with a cream gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

To Fry Beefsteaks

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the steaks

  1. Heat butter or beef dripping in a frying pan over medium heat.

  2. Add the steaks and cook until done, seasoning with salt and pepper.

  3. Turn and brown the steaks on both sides.

  4. Transfer the cooked steaks to a hot dish and cover to keep warm.

Make the gravy and serve

  1. For the gravy, add a few drops of boiling water to the pan drippings.

  2. Stir in a tablespoon of flour until smooth.

  3. Pour in the cream or milk, season with salt and pepper, and let it boil until thickened.

  4. Serve the gravy hot alongside the steaks.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

Beefsteak
Provides the main protein, which browns and firms as it cooks.
Butter or beef dripping
Conducts heat in the pan and adds richness and browning to the steaks.
Flour
Thickens the pan drippings into a smooth gravy as it cooks with the liquid.
Cream or sweet rich milk
Forms the body of the gravy and adds richness and a mild sweetness.

The step that matters

Stirring flour into the drippings. Stir the flour in until smooth before adding liquid so it disperses evenly and does not form lumps. Letting the gravy boil then allows the starch to swell and thicken it.

“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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