Name: Broiled Steak with Riced Potatoes
Ingredients: tender cuts of meat (steak); coarse sea salt; pepper; potatoes

Why it works: Pepper and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Broiled Steak with Riced Potatoes

Ingredients

tender cuts of meat (steak)
coarse sea salt
pepper
potatoes

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Select a tender cut of steak for broiling.
Season the steak with coarse sea salt and pepper.
Preheat a pan over high heat.
Place the steak in the pan and cook for about 4-5 minutes on each side for medium-rare.
While the steak is cooking, peel and boil the potatoes until tender.
Rice the potatoes using a ricer or fork, then serve alongside the steak.

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.

Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Meat + potatotop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together786 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,777 recipes

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