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 Meats
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Trim the steak, removing excess fat.
Flatten the surface by striking it with the broad blade of a knife.
Heat the broiler very hot and rub it with a piece of fat.
Place the steak on the broiler with the fat edge toward the handle.
Cook and serve
Broil over a clear coal fire or under a gas flame, turning every 10 counts until perfectly seared. Then turn occasionally until done.
Serve on a hot platter and season with butter, pepper, and salt.
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.
-
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
- Provides the main protein, which sears on the outside while the inside cooks to the desired doneness.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the finished steak when seasoned on the hot platter.
The step that matters
Turning the steak every 10 counts while searing. Frequent turning keeps the surface from burning before the interior cooks, while still building an even brown crust. Searing at high heat browns the surface through the Maillard reaction, which gives flavor and color.
“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.
More broiled steak recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.