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Beefsteak with Cucumbers

A steak served with fried cucumber and onion slices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and beef 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 with Cucumbers

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Pare and slice the cucumbers and onion lengthwise.

  2. Season them with salt and pepper, then dredge with flour and fry until golden.

Cook and serve the steak

  1. Broil the steak and season it with salt and pepper.

  2. Place the steak in a hot dish with a bit of butter.

  3. Pour the fried cucumbers over the steak and serve hot.

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. Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  2. Cucumber + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,050 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Cucumber + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,991 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

Cucumbers
Provide the main vegetable body and fresh crisp contrast to the rich steak.
Onion
Adds savory aroma and sweetness that develops as it fries.
Flour
Forms a light coating that browns and crisps during frying.
Beef steak
Provides the main protein, browned by broiling for savory flavor.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the hot dish beneath the steak.

The step that matters

Fry the dredged vegetables until golden. Flour-dredged vegetables need enough hot fat and time to brown without burning; too little heat leaves them greasy and soft, while too much darkens the coating before the centers cook.

Swap the cucumber

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, pepper, flour, beef, butter. 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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