Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Planked Steak
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.
Prepare the potato border
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Mix hot mashed potatoes with melted butter and hot milk until slightly softened.
Transfer the potato mixture to a pastry tube with a large rose end.
Press the potatoes around the edge of the plank, forming rosettes.
Dab the top with beaten egg yolk and place in the oven to color slightly.
Cook and serve
Broil the steak to your desired doneness.
Prepare assorted cooked vegetables.
Transfer the plank to a serving platter, place the steak in the center, and garnish with vegetables.
Pour a few spoonfuls of sauce over the steak and serve immediately.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Potato + peastop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,016 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Peas + mushroomtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together890 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Potato + mushroomtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together968 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hot mashed potatoes
- Form the piped border and provide a soft, starchy base that holds its shape around the steak.
- Egg yolk
- Adds richness and promotes light browning on the piped potato rosettes in the oven.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for a smoother, richer potato texture.
- Hot milk
- Loosens the mashed potatoes so they can be piped smoothly.
- Steak
- Serves as the main protein, cooked by broiling to the desired doneness.
The step that matters
Dab the top with beaten egg yolk and place in the oven to color slightly. Egg yolk proteins brown when heated, so the potatoes need only a short time in the oven. Leaving them too long can dry or scorch the piped edge before the dish is served.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, butter, milk, egg, mushroom):
- Peasthe original
- Peanutfits about as well
- Beansfits about as well
- Walnutfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, milk, egg, mushroom. 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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