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To Broil Beef-steaks

A method for broiling beef steaks over a gridiron using suet and a shallot or onion.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

To Broil Beef-steaks

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Beat the steaks on both sides with a steak mallet or rolling pin.

  2. Season the steaks with salt and pepper.

  3. Prepare a bed of clear, bright coals free from smoke and ashes.

  4. Set the gridiron over the coals at a slant to avoid smoking the meat.

  5. Rub the gridiron with suet and sprinkle a little salt over the coals.

  6. Rub a dish with a shallot or onion and place it near the fire to heat.

Broil

  1. Lay the steaks on the gridiron and turn them frequently with tongs or a knife and fork.

  2. Broil for about 15 minutes, or 10-12 minutes for rare.

  3. If the fat blazes, remove the gridiron until the blaze subsides.

  4. When turning the steaks, drop any standing gravy into the heated dish.

  5. Cover the upper side of the steaks with an inverted plate to retain flavor.

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. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + shallottop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,898 recipes

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

  3. Beef + shallottop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,103 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef steaks
Provide the main meat, which browns on the surface and stays juicy inside when broiled.
Suet
Rubbed on the gridiron to add fat, helping keep the steaks from sticking.

The step that matters

Turning the steaks over a hot fire. Frequent turning helps the surface brown evenly without burning, while flare-ups from dripping fat can scorch the meat and leave a bitter, sooty taste. Removing the gridiron briefly when fat blazes lets the flames settle.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper. 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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