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Beef Steaks Broiled

Broiled beef steaks served with butter, sliced shallot or onion, optional mushroom ketchup, seasoned with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,982 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Beef Steaks Broiled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat the grill over a clear fire.

  2. Cut beef steaks from the rump or tender parts, about ½ inch thick.

  3. Beat the steaks with a rolling pin.

Broil and serve

  1. Grease the grill with suet and place the steaks on it.

  2. Broil the steaks until they begin to brown, turning them often.

  3. Transfer the steaks to a hot dish with a bit of butter underneath.

  4. Top with sliced shallot or onion and mushroom ketchup if desired.

  5. Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper before serving.

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. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

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

  5. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beef steaks
Provide the main protein, which browns and firms as it broils.
Suet
Greases the grill so the steaks do not stick and gain a little fat.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the hot dish under the steaks.
Shallot or onion
Adds mild, sweet aroma and savory flavor to the cooked steaks.
Mushroom ketchup
Adds savory, umami depth to the steak surface.

The step that matters

Broil until they just begin to brown, turning often. Frequent turning over a hot fire spreads heat evenly through the steak and helps prevent the outside from scorching before the inside cooks. Watching for the first browning signals when the surface is ready, since the meat's sugars and proteins brown quickly at high heat.

Swap the shallot

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Onionfits about as well
  4. Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, mushroom, ketchup, 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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