Why it works: Butter and pepper 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 Steak
Ingredients
Directions
Broil the steak
Place steak on broiler over clear fire for 10 to 15 minutes, turning frequently; count 10 seconds between turns.
Finish and serve
Prepare a hot serving dish with some butter, pepper, and salt.
Transfer the steak to the serving dish.
Pour melted butter over it.
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 + peppertop 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
- Is the main protein, cooked directly by radiant heat to brown the surface.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, and carries flavour over the cooked surface.
The step that matters
Turning the steak frequently under the broiler. Frequent turning, with about 10 seconds between turns, keeps the surface from scorching before the interior cooks. Heat that is too close or too long on one side chars the outside while the centre stays underdone.
“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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