Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Broiled Steak
Ingredients
Directions
Force the beef from the round through a food chopper.
Divide the chopped beef into bowls, one for each 8 pupils.
Cut the sirloin into 8 equal pieces.
Place 4 pieces on a plate for each group of 8 pupils.
Divide the suet into 16 small pieces and place 8 pieces on each saucer.
If using onion, cut it in half and place one half on a saucer for each group of 8 pupils.
Pour 2 tablespoons of milk into saucers or small bowls for each group of 8 pupils.
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.
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + milktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,759 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
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Onion + milktop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,418 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, milk):
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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