Why it works: Cream and butter match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 41,494 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare
Prepare extra-thick porterhouse or club steak.
Cut four bananas lengthwise into two halves and fry them in olive oil.
Mix one-half cup cream sauce with three tablespoonfuls of horseradish (as dry as possible) and whipped cream.
Broil and serve the steak
Broil the steak until medium rare.
Place the fried bananas on top of the steak in rows.
Cover the steak with the cream-horseradish sauce and serve garnished with parsley.
Make the beef stew
Wipe two pounds of beef from the round with a damp cloth.
Cut the beef into one-inch pieces and put them in a spoonful of butter in a sauce pan.
Add a small grated onion and cook until straw color.
Add a quarter teaspoonful of paprika and mix well.
Stir in three level teaspoonfuls of flour and brown to a good color.
Add two cups of good stock and stir until it boils.
Cover and cook until the meat and potatoes are done. Serve.
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. See the original page.
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.
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Cream + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together41,494 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sauce + horseradishtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together775 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Cream + saucetop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,786 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + flourtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together122,858 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + bananatop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,529 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 122,858 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
What each ingredient does
- Beef
- Provides the main protein and the meaty, chewy texture of the stew.
- Bananas
- Fried until golden, they add gentle sweetness and soft texture to the steak.
- Horseradish
- Its sharp pungency cuts through the richness of the beef and cream.
- Cream sauce
- Adds richness and moisture to the horseradish topping.
- Flour
- Thickens the stock and browns to add color and flavor to the stew.
- Stock
- Supplies the liquid and savory flavor that the beef cooks in.
The step that matters
Broil the steak until medium rare. Meat keeps cooking after it leaves the heat, so pulling it at the right point keeps it juicy and tender. Overcooking tightens the muscle fibers and squeezes out moisture, leaving it dry and tough.
Flavor stand-ins for the banana
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sauce, horseradish, beef, butter, flour):
- Avocadobetter flavor fit
- Coconutbetter flavor fit
- Applebetter flavor fit
- Bananathe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sauce, horseradish, beef, butter, flour. 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).
“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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