Why it works: Beef and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,533 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Broiled Beefsteak
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut off the flank end of the steak for other uses.
Grease the broiler with a little fat from the meat.
Broil and serve
Broil the steak over red-hot coals, turning every 10 seconds to sear the outside and keep the juices in.
For rare, broil for 8 minutes; for well done, broil for 12 minutes.
Serve on a hot platter and season with butter, coarse sea salt, and your choice of sauce.
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.
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Beef + meattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,533 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,847 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Meat + saucetop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,167 recipes
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they 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 steak
- Provides the main meat, which browns on the outside while staying juicy inside.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth fat to the finished steak.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the surface and brings out the meat's savory flavor.
The step that matters
Turning the steak every 10 seconds. Frequent turning over red-hot coals sears the outside quickly and helps keep juices inside. Leaving one side too long can scorch it before the inside is cooked to the desired doneness.
“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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