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To Broil Beef-Steaks

Broiled beef steaks seasoned with salt and pepper, cooked on a hot gridiron and served with optional eschalot and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

To Broil Beef-Steaks

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the steaks

  1. Choose steaks from the middle of the rump or sirloin, trimming off excess fat and bone.

  2. Let the steaks rest for 3 to 5 days to ensure tenderness.

Broil

  1. Rub a hot gridiron with suet.

  2. Sprinkle a little salt over the fire.

  3. Place the steaks on the gridiron.

  4. Turn the steaks frequently with steak tongs.

  5. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes.

  6. Remove the gridiron if the fat blazes too much.

  7. Have a hot dish ready to catch any juices when turning the steaks.

Serve

  1. Sprinkle with salt just before serving.

  2. Add finely shredded eschalot and a bit of fresh butter if desired.

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. Pepper + buttertop 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

Beef steaks
Provide the meat, whose fat and connective tissue add flavour and juiciness as it cooks.
Suet
Greases the hot gridiron so the steaks do not stick and the fat adds richness.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and a glossy finish when melted over the hot steaks.

The step that matters

Turning the steaks frequently. Frequent turning over direct heat cooks the steaks evenly and limits charring on the surface. Fat dripping onto the fire causes flare-ups that can scorch the meat, which is why the gridiron is removed when the fat blazes.

“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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