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Fried Beefsteak to Resemble Broiling

A steak fried on both sides and then soaked in a butter, pepper, salt, and water gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fried Beefsteak to Resemble Broiling

Ingredients

Directions

Sear the first side

  1. Heat a skillet until very hot.

  2. Wipe the skillet clean and place the steak in it.

  3. Remove the steak before it cooks through, leaving only the browned side.

  4. Place the steak on a platter over hot water.

Brown the second side and serve

  1. Heat the skillet again, wipe it free from fat, and brown the other side.

  2. While the second side is browning, place butter, pepper, and salt on the platter to melt.

  3. Once browned, transfer the steak to the platter and soak it in the gravy.

  4. Add 1 tablespoon of water to the gravy and serve immediately.

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. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  2. Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,847 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

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 protein, browning on its surfaces while the interior stays less cooked.
Butter
Melts into the platter to form a rich fat that carries flavor into the gravy.

The step that matters

Remove the steak before it cooks through. Taking the steak off the heat while only the outside is browned keeps the interior from overcooking, since the piece continues to warm as it rests and is finished in the gravy.

“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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