Why it works: Butter and watercress work together. They rank in the top 24% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 842 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Fancy Steak
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare and cook
Butter both sides of the steak lightly.
Place the steak on a well-greased and warmed gridiron.
Set it over moderate heat (350°F / 175°C).
Broil the steak, turning it frequently to ensure even cooking.
Serve
Serve the steak surrounded by watercress or fried potatoes.
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 + watercresstop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together842 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rump steak
- Provides the meat itself, which browns and firms as it cooks over direct heat.
- Butter
- Lightly coats the surface, adding richness and helping the outside brown.
The step that matters
Turning the steak frequently. Frequent turning spreads heat evenly through the thick cut so the outside does not over-darken before the centre cooks. Turning also keeps juices distributed rather than drawn out on one side.
“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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