Why it works: Butter and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓
Swiss Steak
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the steak
Pound the steak with a broad-headed hammer, coating it with flour, salt, and pepper until pulped but not broken apart.
Sear and bake
Melt butter in a skillet and sear the meat on both sides.
Add water, cover, and bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 2 hours, turning 2 or 3 times and adding water if necessary.
Make the gravy and serve
Remove the steak to a heated platter, make a gravy with the drippings, add the mushrooms, pour over the steak, and 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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Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + mushroomtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,253 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 main body of the dish; long slow cooking turns its tough fibers tender.
- Flour
- Coats the pounded steak, helping it brown and thickening the drippings into gravy.
- Butter
- Adds fat for searing, promoting browning on the meat's surface.
- Water
- Creates steam and moisture in the covered pan, keeping the meat from drying out during baking.
- Mushrooms
- Add savory, earthy flavor to the gravy poured over the steak.
The step that matters
Pound the steak until pulped but not broken apart. Pounding breaks down tough muscle fibers so the meat softens during slow braising. Pounding too hard can tear the steak apart, so it should be firm but intact.
“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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