Why it works: Pepper and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 85,593 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Broiled Beefsteak
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the steak
Pound the steak well.
Place it over hot coals on a hot grill.
Brown thoroughly on one side before turning.
Finish and serve
Once done, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Transfer to a hot platter and spread with softened butter.
Serve immediately.
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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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Steak
- Forms the main body of the dish, and its browning on the grill gives it savoury flavour.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture as it melts over the hot steak.
The step that matters
Brown thoroughly on one side before turning. Searing one side fully over high heat builds a browned crust and locks in juices, so the steak is not dry or pale when turned.
“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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