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Deviled Beef

Slices of roast beef sautéed with olive oil, paprika, salt, mustard, pepper, and olives.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,950 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Deviled Beef

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Heat the olive oil, paprika, salt, mustard, and black pepper in a skillet until hot.

  2. Add the beef slices and olives to the skillet.

  3. Cook until the beef is smoking-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. Olive + mustardtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

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

  5. Beef + olivetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,220 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Roast beef
The main protein, warmed through in the hot oil and spices.
Olive oil
Carries the spices and coats the beef, adding richness and moisture.
Paprika
Adds colour and a mild, sweet aroma when heated in oil.
Mustard
Adds a sharp, pungent flavour that mellows with heat.

The step that matters

Cook until the beef is smoking-hot. The beef is already cooked, so extra heat is only for warming. Overheating tightens its proteins and pushes out moisture, leaving it dry and tough. Warm it briefly so it stays tender.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Tomatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, olive, 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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