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
Broil the beefsteak on a light wire gridiron over a clear fire.
When ready to turn, place it on a warm plate with a little butter, cooked side down to save the juices.
Quickly return it to the gridiron until the other side is cooked.
Place it back on the warm plate, season with coarse sea salt and pepper, and add a little 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
- Forms the main body of the dish; its surface browns and develops flavour over direct heat.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, and helps keep the meat's juices on the plate.
The step that matters
Turning the steak onto the warm plate. Placing the cooked side down on the warm plate keeps the juices from running out of the meat. Returning it quickly to the gridiron prevents the interior from cooling and the surface from losing its browning.
“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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