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French Method of Broiling Steak

A steak seasoned with pepper and salt, broiled over a clear fire, then topped with parsley butter and served with fried potatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

French Method of Broiling Steak

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the steak

  1. Sprinkle the steak lightly with pepper.

  2. Dip the steak in olive oil.

Broil and serve

  1. Broil the steak over a clear fire, turning it every 2-3 minutes until cooked to your preference.

  2. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and the butter mixed with finely minced parsley.

  3. Garnish with fried potatoes.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Olive + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,649 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Olive + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,887 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Steak
Is the main protein, cooked by direct high heat so its surface browns while the inside cooks.
Butter mixed with parsley
Adds richness and a fresh herbal aroma when spooned over the hot steak.

The step that matters

Turning the steak every 2-3 minutes. Frequent turning over a clear, hot fire cooks the steak evenly and prevents the outside from burning before the inside reaches the desired doneness. Checking doneness as you go keeps the result from overcooking.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, olive, butter, fried potato):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Rosemaryfits about as well
  4. Garlicfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, olive, butter, fried potato. 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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