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Beef Steak and Oysters

A steak served with oysters and butter, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Oyster and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,184 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Beef Steak and Oysters

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the steak

  1. Broil the steak quickly without salt, placing it close to a very hot fire.

  2. Once browned, season with salt and pepper, and place on a hot platter.

Finish and serve

  1. Pour the drained oysters over the steak and add small pieces of butter on top.

  2. Place the platter in a very hot oven until the oysters are done, which is when their edges curl.

  3. Serve hot 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. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

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

  3. Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,663 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Steak
Browns under high heat to form a flavourful crust while the inside stays tender.
Oysters
Cook briefly in the oven, becoming tender and curling at the edges as they set.
Butter
Melts over the hot oysters and steak, adding richness and moisture to the dish.

The step that matters

Placing the steak close to the very hot fire without salt. Salt drawn onto the surface before searing can keep it damp, which slows browning. Searing quickly over intense heat builds a crust while the interior stays juicy.

“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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