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How to Broil Steak

A steak cooked by broiling with salt, pepper, butter, and optional coffee for gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

How to Broil Steak

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Place a dripping pan inside the oven.

  3. Brown the steak on both sides over the fire.

  4. Transfer the steak to the hot pan in the oven.

  5. Cook the steak for 5 to 10 minutes if thick.

  6. Alternatively, heat a frying pan until smoking hot.

  7. Place the steak in the pan without grease.

Cook the steak

  1. Once browned, loosen the steak with a knife.

  2. Turn the steak over when juices appear.

  3. Press the steak closely to the pan.

  4. Turn the steak every 15 seconds until done.

Finish and serve

  1. Season the steak with salt and pepper.

  2. Press butter onto a hot platter.

  3. Add 1 tablespoon of coffee to the pan for gravy.

  4. Let it boil.

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 + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

  2. Butter + coffeetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,442 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  3. Pepper + coffeetop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together313 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Steak
Browning in high heat builds a flavorful crust while the inside stays tender and juicy.
Butter
Melts over the hot steak to add richness and a glossy, savory finish.
Coffee
Deglazes the pan and adds deep, roasted notes to the gravy.

The step that matters

Brown the steak over high heat before finishing it. A very hot surface drives the browning reaction that forms a savory crust. If the pan or fire is not hot enough, the steak steams, turns grey, and loses flavor.

“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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