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Idaho Finger Steaks

"This recipe was given to me many years ago and is alleged to be the original recipe from a cafe in Boise, Idaho: the purported home of the finger steak. I ate there many times in the 70's and this recipe seems authentic. I always omit the salt as it seems way too salty for me and everyone to whom I passed it along agrees with me, but I included it as that's the way it was given to me. Try dipping in cocktail or fry sauce."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,225 recipes mention both. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

The recipe

6 servings
Prep20 min
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat, soy, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Milk + beeftop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,758 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

  3. Milk + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together76,993 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Marjoram + beeftop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together912 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Marjoram + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,249 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Milk and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 76,993 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Flavor stand-ins for the thyme

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, marjoram, sauce, flour, beef):

  1. Thymethe original
  2. Nutmegabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Oreganoabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Rosemaryabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, marjoram, sauce, flour, beef. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).