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Stewed Beefsteak

A stew of round steak cooked with wine, spices, and oysters.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Summer savory and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 143 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Stewed Beefsteak

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Mix the salt, summer savory, and pepper with the grated onion.

  2. Rub the beef well with the mixture on both sides.

  3. Place the beef in a kettle with the water, wine, cloves, allspice, mace, and 1 ounce of butter mixed with ½ ounce of flour.

  4. Cover closely and stew gently until the beef is tender.

Make the gravy

  1. Remove the beef from the gravy.

  2. Fry the beef in the remaining butter until browned.

  3. Drain the butter from the frying pan.

  4. Pour the gravy through a strainer.

  5. Rub the remaining flour smooth in a little of the gravy.

  6. Stir the flour into the gravy.

  7. Add the oysters and cook until curled.

  8. If the gravy is not thick enough, let it boil a little longer.

Serve

  1. Lay the oysters on the beef.

  2. Pour the thickened gravy over the whole and serve.

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. Summer savory + clovetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together143 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Flour + summer savorytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together263 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Pepper + summer savorytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together671 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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, becoming tender through long, gentle stewing.
Flour
Thickens the gravy as it cooks, giving it body and a smooth texture.
Butter
Adds richness and, when frying the beef, promotes browning on the surface.
Oysters
Contribute a briny, savoury flavour to the gravy and are cooked until just curled.
Wine
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the stewing liquid.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and savoury depth to the seasoning rub.

The step that matters

Thickening the gravy with flour. Flour must be rubbed smooth in a little liquid before stirring in, or it forms lumps. Gravy that is not thick enough should boil a little longer so the starch swells and sets the sauce.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, oyster, wine, pepper, summer savory, clove):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, oyster, wine, pepper, summer savory, clove. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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