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Beefsteak Fried

Fried beefsteak served with a port wine and onion gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Beefsteak Fried

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the steaks

  1. Fry the steaks in butter for 12 to 15 minutes until browned.

  2. Place the cooked steaks in a hot dish before the fire.

Make the gravy and serve

  1. Add port wine, pepper, salt, and minced onion to the gravy in the pan.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Pour the boiling mixture over the steaks.

  4. Serve hot.

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. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  2. Butter + port winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,499 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Port wine + oniontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,148 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Port wine + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,804 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

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

What each ingredient does

Steaks
The main protein, which browns on the outside while cooking through in the butter.
Butter
Fat for frying that carries heat to the steak and helps it brown.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and acidity to the pan gravy, deepening its flavour.
Minced onion
Adds aroma and savoury flavour to the gravy as it cooks.

The step that matters

Bring the mixture to a boil. Boiling the port and onion gravy reduces its liquid and concentrates flavour. Pour it over the steaks only once it is fully boiling, so the sauce is hot and well combined.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, port wine, 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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