Why it works: Pepper and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,430 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Hamburg Steaks
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a bowl, combine the chopped round steak with pepper, coarse sea salt, and mustard.
Form the mixture into cakes.
Cook
Fry the cakes in a skillet until cooked through.
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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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Round steak
- Forms the body of the cakes, and its protein sets into a firm texture as it cooks.
- Mustard
- Adds a sharp, tangy flavour that seasons the meat through.
The step that matters
Frying until cooked through. Chopped meat has a large surface area, so heat reaches the centre quickly, but the cakes still need enough time for the centre to reach a safe, fully cooked temperature. Stopping early leaves the middle raw, while overcooking dries the meat out.
“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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