Name: Broiled Rump Steaks with Onion Gravy
Ingredients: 2 large onions; 2 tablespoons water; ½ pint good broth; mushroom catsup; ground black pepper; coarse sea salt; rump steak

Why it works: Onion and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,626 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Broiled Rump Steaks with Onion Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Peel and slice the onions.
In a quart stew-pan, combine onions and water. Cover and cook on low heat until water evaporates and onions brown.
Add broth and cook until onions are tender. Strain broth and chop onions finely.
Season chopped onions with mushroom catsup, pepper, and salt. Boil gently for 5 minutes.
Pour the onion mixture over a broiled rump steak and serve.

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.

Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,626 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,580 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).