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Plank Steak

A steak served on a wooden plank with mashed potatoes, peas, string beans, and carrots, browned in the oven.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,107 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Plank Steak

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Cook the steak

  1. Preheat a broiler and oil it well.

  2. Cook the steak over the coals for about 8 minutes, turning several times.

  3. Place the cooked steak on a hot wooden plank.

Build the plate

  1. Surround the steak with hot mashed potatoes.

  2. Brush the edges of the potatoes with a beaten egg yolk mixed with a little milk.

Bake and fill

  1. Set the plank in a 400°F (200°C) oven to brown and reheat the potatoes.

  2. Remove from the oven and fill the space between the steak and potatoes with cooked peas, string beans, and thin strips of carrot.

  3. Season with salt, pepper, and butter.

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.

  1. Potato + carrottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,107 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Beans + carrottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,443 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  3. Potato + beanstop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together655 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  4. Peas + beanstop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together949 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  5. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 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

Steak
Provides the main meat, whose surface browns over the coals for savory flavor.
Mashed potatoes
Forms a soft border that holds heat and frames the steak on the plank.
Egg yolk
Adds richness and promotes golden browning on the potato edges in the oven.
Milk
Thins the egg yolk so it spreads into a smooth, even glaze.
Butter
Adds fat for richness, mouthfeel and a rounded flavor.

The step that matters

Brushing the potato edges with egg yolk and milk. The egg proteins set and brown in the oven, so a thin, even coat gives a golden edge. Too thick a coat can scorch or look patchy before the potatoes are hot through.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, egg, milk, beans, carrot, pepper, butter):

  1. Chickpeafits about as well
  2. Lima beansfits about as well
  3. Peanutfits about as well
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, egg, milk, beans, carrot, pepper, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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