Why it works: Pork and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,933 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓
Pork Steaks
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the pork from a loin or neck into steaks of medium thickness.
Season the steaks with pepper.
Broil and finish
Broil the steaks, turning them often.
When nearly done, sprinkle with coarse sea salt and rub with a bit of butter.
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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Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,933 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Pork loin or neck steaks
- Provide the meat that cooks through and browns under the broiler.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor and helping the surface brown slightly.
The step that matters
Turning the steaks often under the broiler. Direct high heat browns the surface quickly, so frequent turning helps the steaks cook evenly and avoids scorching one side while the center stays underdone.
“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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