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Bubbling Steak

A steak rolled with salt pork, simmered with onion and spices to create a savory stew.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,214 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Bubbling Steak

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rolls

  1. Pound the steak.

  2. Cut the steak into pieces the size of your hand.

  3. Cut the salt pork into very thin strips.

  4. Roll the strips up in the pieces of steak, tying at either end.

Brown and simmer

  1. In a buttered skillet, sear the steak rolls until well browned.

  2. Add enough water to almost cover the rolls.

  3. Slice the onion over the top.

  4. Dust the onion with cayenne and black pepper.

  5. Simmer for about 4 hours, adding water as needed.

  6. Thicken the gravy.

  7. Add salt to taste.

  8. 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. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

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

  2. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  3. Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,933 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  4. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Round steak
Pounded and rolled, it becomes the tender meat wrapping that cooks through during the long simmer.
Salt pork
Thin strips melt during cooking, adding fat and richness to the meat and gravy.
Butter
Fat in the skillet that helps the rolls brown well before simmering.
Onion
Sliced over the top, it softens and adds sweetness and savory flavor to the gravy.

The step that matters

Searing the steak rolls until well browned. Browning builds deep savory flavor through the Maillard reaction. Pale searing leaves the rolls and gravy tasting flat, so take time to brown all sides before adding water.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Onionthe original
  4. Tomatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, butter, 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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