Why it works: Butter and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 85,593 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Broiled Steak
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Preheat your grill or broiler.
Broil and turn
Broil the beefsteak on a light wire gridiron over a clear fire.
When ready to turn, place the steak on a warm plate with a little butter, cooked side down to save the juices.
Quickly return the steak to the gridiron.
Finish and season
Once the other side is cooked, place it back on the warm plate.
Season the steak with pepper and coarse sea salt to taste.
Add a little more butter.
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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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beefsteak
- The main protein, which browns on the hot gridiron and firms as it cooks.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavor, and helps keep the steak moist when served.
The step that matters
Turn the steak quickly. Returning the steak to the gridiron quickly keeps the surface hot and the cooking even. Setting it cooked side down on the buttered warm plate helps hold in the juices that would otherwise run out.
“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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