Name: Beefsteaks with Anchovy Butter
Ingredients: beefsteaks; anchovy butter; Indian pickle; watercress; olives; common pickles; sauce for small rib-steaks

Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Beefsteaks with Anchovy Butter

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare beefsteaks as you would normally, substituting anchovy butter for Maitre d’ Hotel.
Serve with Indian pickle, watercress, olives, or any common pickles.
Accompany with sauces suitable for small rib-steaks.

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.

Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,057 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Watercress + olivetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together684 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Anchovy + olivetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together880 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).
Anchovy + watercresstop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together63 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Anchovy + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,697 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).