Name: Beefsteak with Mushrooms
Ingredients: one quart of fresh mushrooms; two ounces of fresh butter; half done add two ounces of fresh butter; salt; pepper

Why it works: Mushroom and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Beefsteak with Mushrooms

Ingredients

Directions

Take one quart of fresh mushrooms, skin and wash them carefully through several waters, and put them in a stew-pan with no more water than that which adheres to them. Season with salt and pepper, and dredge through them a dessert- spoonful of flour, stirring very lightly ; when half done add two ounces of fresh butter. Broil one or more steaks, which when done place on a well-heated dish and season with salt and pepper, basting them with butter. Then pour the mush- rooms over, and serve hot.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

123Calories

3 gProtein

12 gFat

4 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Mushrooms	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Gibson, Marietta Fauntleroy Hollyday, "Mrs. C. H. Gibson.". 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. See the original page.

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.

Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,580 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).