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Plain Rump Steak

A simple grilled rump steak seasoned with salt and pepper, served with butter, horseradish, and beef gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and beef 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 ↓

Plain Rump Steak

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Season the steak with salt and pepper.

  2. Broil the steak over a clear fire until done.

  3. Carefully remove the steak from the grill to preserve the juices.

Finish and serve

  1. Place the steak on a dish and rub a small pat of fresh butter over it.

  2. Garnish with grated horseradish and serve with beef gravy in a sauceboat.

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. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + horseradishtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,646 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Horseradish + beeftop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together491 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  4. Butter + beeftop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,847 recipes

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

  5. 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

Rump steak
Forms the main body of the dish and carries the flavor of the meat.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and a glossy finish that melts over the hot steak.
Grated horseradish
Adds a sharp, pungent heat that cuts through the richness of the beef.
Beef gravy
Adds moisture and savory depth alongside the steak.

The step that matters

Carefully remove the steak from the grill to preserve the juices. Moving the steak gently keeps its surface intact so juices stay inside the meat rather than running out onto the plate. Resting the meat briefly lets the juices redistribute, which helps keep it moist when cut.

Swap the horseradish

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, butter, beef):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Onionfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Horseradishthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, beef. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.

More rump steak recipes

Pie 16Broiled 8Gravy 4Sauce 4Stew 3 See all 17 →

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