Why it works: Butter and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,456 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Beef Steak and Fried Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Heat the butter in a frying or sauté pan over high heat until very hot.
Peel the potatoes and cut them into long, thin slices.
Cook
Fry the potato slices in the hot butter until they are nicely browned.
Broil the steaks over a clear, bright fire, turning frequently for even cooking; broil for about 5 minutes.
Top the steaks with bits of maitre d'hotel butter and place them in the oven for a moment.
Arrange the fried potatoes around the edge of the dish and serve immediately.
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 + potatotop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Fries the potatoes and carries heat, giving them a golden, rich flavour.
- Potatoes
- Form the crisp, browned side dish when fried in hot butter.
- Steaks
- Provide the main protein, browned by direct high heat from broiling.
- Maitre d'hotel butter
- Melts over the hot steaks, adding richness and herb flavour at serving.
The step that matters
Frying the potato slices in hot butter. If the pan is not hot enough or is crowded, the potatoes steam and release moisture instead of browning. Starting in very hot butter and frying in a single layer lets surface moisture evaporate so the slices brown and crisp.
“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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