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Grilled Steak

A steak marinated in butter, vinegar, pepper, and salt, then grilled and finished with butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Grilled Steak

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Marinate

  1. Melt the butter and mix in the vinegar and pepper.

  2. Place the raw steak on a dish.

  3. Pour the mixture over the steak.

  4. Let the steak marinate for about an hour, turning occasionally.

Grill and season

  1. Prepare a bright, clear fire for grilling.

  2. Grill the steak until cooked to your liking.

  3. Sprinkle both sides of the steak with salt.

  4. Place a small piece of butter on top of the steak.

  5. Put the steak in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 1 minute.

Serve

  1. Serve the steak immediately on a hot dish.

  2. Optionally, rub the dish with cut onions or add a small amount of strong coffee before serving.

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. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Butter + vinegartop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,513 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Steak
The main protein, whose muscle fibers set and firm as it cooks, determining its final texture.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor and helping the surface brown.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and slightly loosens the meat's surface during marinating.
Pepper
Contributes a sharp, aromatic bite that complements the beef.

The step that matters

Grill the steak until cooked to your liking. As meat heats, its proteins tighten and squeeze out moisture, so overcooking makes it dry and tough. Removing the steak just before it reaches your target doneness lets residual heat finish the job while keeping it juicy.

“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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