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Spanish Beefsteak

A broiled beefsteak topped with onions, tomatoes, and melted cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Spanish Beefsteak

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the broiler.

  2. Dip the steak in olive oil.

Cook and season

  1. Broil the steak for 10 minutes on each side, turning once.

  2. Place the steak in a baking pan and season with salt and pepper.

  3. Cover the steak with sliced onions and season again with salt and pepper.

  4. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 10 minutes.

  5. Cover with chopped tomatoes and bake for 15 minutes.

  6. Top with grated cheese and allow it to melt and brown.

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. Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  4. Olive + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,779 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beefsteak
Provides the main meat, which browns on the surface and becomes tender as it cooks.
Olive oil
Coats the steak, helping it brown under the broiler and carrying seasoning.
Onion
Softens and adds sweetness as it cooks under the covering of tomatoes and cheese.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity that keep the steak juicy during baking.
Cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding fat, savoury flavour and a golden crust.

The step that matters

Broil the steak on each side. Turning once gives both faces even browning. Searing at high heat builds surface flavour, while the steak's thickness means it can still be underdone inside if the time is cut short.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, pepper, tomato, cheese):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Eggplantfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, pepper, tomato, cheese. 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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