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 a grill over hot coals and grease it with butter or suet.
Prepare a warm platter with a little melted butter.
Cook
Place the steak on the grill and cook one side until done.
Flip the steak onto the platter with the cooked side down.
Return the steak to the grill to cook the other side.
Once cooked, transfer to the hot platter, season with salt, pepper, and butter, and serve.
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
- Steak
- Forms the main protein; its thickness and tenderness set how juicy the finished meat will be.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavour, and helps keep the surface from sticking to the grill.
The step that matters
Cooking the first side until done. Searing the first side over hot coals builds browning and flavour, and the steak should be cooked through before the second side. Turning too early leaves the surface pale and the centre underdone.
“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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