Name: Steak Sauce
Ingredients: 2 green peppers, finely chopped; 2 fresh tomatoes, chopped; 2 onions, chopped; 2 tablespoons butter

Why it works: Pepper and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Steak Sauce

Ingredients

2 green peppers, finely chopped
2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 tablespoons butter

Directions

Make the sauce

In a frying pan, melt the butter over medium heat.
Add the chopped green peppers, tomatoes, and onions.
Simmer until the vegetables are tender.

Serve

Pour the sauce over cooked and seasoned 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 + tomatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together42,912 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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

Green peppers: Add a fresh, slightly bitter vegetable flavor and body to the sauce.
Tomatoes: Provide moisture and acidity that help form the sauce base.
Onions: Add sweetness and savory depth as they soften during simmering.
Butter: Carries flavor and adds richness to the vegetables as they cook.