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To Stew Beef-steaks

A stew of beef steaks simmered in gravy with butter, flour, and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 Stew Beef-steaks

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Half-broil the beef steaks.

Stew

  1. Lay them in a stew pan and season to taste with salt and pepper.

  2. Add enough strong gravy to cover the steaks and a bit of butter rolled in flour.

  3. Let them stew for half an hour.

  4. Stir in the beaten yolks of two eggs and cook for another ten minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve hot.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,847 recipes

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

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Beef steaks
The main protein, which becomes tender as it stews in the gravy.
Strong gravy
Provides the liquid and savory flavor that cooks the steaks through stewing.
Butter
Adds richness, and with flour it thickens the gravy.
Flour
Thickens the gravy when combined with butter.
2 egg yolks
Enriches and thickens the sauce as they cook into it.

The step that matters

Stirring in the beaten egg yolks. Egg yolks thicken when heated gently but can scramble if the liquid is too hot or boiling. Keep the heat low and stir steadily while they cook into the gravy.

“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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