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Steaks, and a Pie

Old English directions for beating, marinating and broiling steak, serving it with onions or oyster sauce, and making horseradish sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Chevalley de Rivaz, Victor · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Steaks, and a Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the steak

  1. I may remark that all steaks are improved by being well beaten before cooking.

  2. Make a marinade with oil, vinegar, slices of onion, a piece of garlic, spices, pepper, salt, parsley, and sweet herbs.

  3. Steep the steak (beef or mutton) in the marinade for ten or twelve hours before cooking, turning it at intervals.

Make the oyster sauce

  1. Parboil the oysters and beard them.

  2. Give the oysters a turn or two with plenty of butter in a frying pan.

  3. Add pepper and salt, a little flour, and the juice of half a lemon, with enough oyster liquor to make up the quantity of sauce wanted.

  4. Stir until the oysters are done, and serve with the steak broiled in the usual way.

Make the horseradish sauce

  1. Boil some grated horseradish in gravy or broth.

  2. When done, stir into it the yolks of one or two eggs beaten up with some tarragon vinegar.

  3. Add pepper and grated nutmeg, and serve in a sauce-boat.

Cook and serve

  1. Cook the steak in the usual way, and serve either au naturel, or with parsley and butter as above.

  2. Fry the onions and broil the steak; then serve the two together.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

154Calories
7 gProtein
12 gFat
5 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 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 Chevalley de Rivaz, Victor. 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.

  1. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Garlic + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Steak (in the method)
Is the main protein; beating and marinating it tenderise the meat before cooking.
Oysters (in the method)
Provide the savoury, briny flavour of the sauce and are cooked gently in butter.
Eggs
Yolks thicken the horseradish sauce and add richness and body.
Cream
Adds richness and smoothness to the sauce base.
Horseradish (in the method)
Supplies the sharp, pungent heat that flavours the sauce.
Butter (in the method)
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour through the oyster sauce.

The step that matters

Stir the egg yolks into the horseradish sauce. Yolks thicken when warmed gently; if the sauce boils or is heated too fast, the eggs can scramble and curdle, so it should be kept below boiling and stirred constantly.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, egg, pepper, vinegar, nutmeg):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, egg, pepper, vinegar, nutmeg. 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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