Name: Broiled Steak
Ingredients: Steak; Salt; Pepper; Butter

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 ↓

Broiled Steak

Ingredients

Steak
Salt
Pepper
Butter

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.

Prepare

Preheat the broiler.
Season the steak with salt and pepper.
Place the steak on a broiler pan.

Cook and serve

Broil for 4-5 minutes on each side for medium-rare.
Remove from the broiler and let rest for a few minutes.
Serve with a pat of butter on top.

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 + 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

Steak: Is the main protein; broiling browns its surface while the inside cooks to medium-rare.
Butter: Adds richness and a melting fat layer over the hot steak.