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Baking

Creole Steak

A baked steak mixture of chopped round steak, tomato pulp, breadcrumbs, egg yolk, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Creole Steak

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, combine the chopped steak, tomato pulp, bread crumbs, egg yolk, salt, and pepper. Mix well and place the mixture in a covered baking pan.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for an additional 20 minutes to brown.

  2. Serve with tomato sauce.

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. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,013 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Egg and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 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

Round steak
Forms the meat base of the dish and gives it its main body and savory flavor.
Tomato pulp
Adds moisture and acidity to keep the chopped meat tender while it bakes.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and help bind the meat into a cohesive loaf.
Egg yolk
Acts as a binder that helps the mixture hold together and adds richness.

The step that matters

Uncovering for the final bake. Baking covered first traps steam and keeps the meat moist; uncovering for the last 20 minutes lets surface moisture evaporate so the top can brown.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, egg, pepper. 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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