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Broiled Beefsteak

A thick steak grilled over coals, seasoned with salt and pepper, served with butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Broiled Beefsteak

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Grease a gridiron with beef suet and place it over hot coals.

  2. Lay the steak on the gridiron and cook until done on one side.

  3. Prepare a warm platter with a little butter on it.

  4. Carefully transfer the steak to the platter without pressing it.

  5. Return the steak to the gridiron to cook the other side.

  6. Once cooked to your liking, place it back on the platter and spread lightly with butter.

  7. Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

  8. Keep warm over boiling steam for a few moments without letting the butter become oily.

  9. Serve on hot plates.

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. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,847 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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
Provides the main protein, which browns on the hot gridiron and sets its texture as it cooks.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky coating that carries flavour over the hot steak.
Beef suet
Greases the gridiron so the steak releases cleanly and sears rather than sticking.

The step that matters

Keeping the butter from turning oily. Butter is an emulsion of fat, water and milk solids. Excess heat or prolonged steam can separate it into greasy fat, so it should be kept warm only briefly and spread lightly.

“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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