Why it works: Venison and currant work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 443 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Beoiled Venison Steak
Ingredients
Directions
Broil the steak
Broil the venison steak over a clear fire, turning often.
Cook it longer than beef until sufficiently done.
Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Finish and serve
Melt the currant jelly with the butter and pour it over the steak.
Serve hot on plates.
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.
-
Venison + curranttop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together443 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
-
Venison + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together957 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Currant + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,856 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
-
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Venison + peppertop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together955 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
- Venison steak
- Is the main protein, cooked by direct heat until browned outside and done inside.
- Currant jelly
- Adds sweetness and a glossy glaze that balances the rich, gamey meat.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour across the hot steak.
The step that matters
Cooking the venison until done. Venison is very lean, so it dries out and toughens quickly when overcooked. Turning often over a clear fire browns the surface evenly while the interior reaches doneness. Because it cooks longer than beef, checking doneness carefully matters.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, pepper, butter):
- Lemonfits better
- Red currantfits better
- Grapefits about as well
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against venison, pepper, butter. 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.
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Roast Venison20 recipes
Venison Pasty7 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes