Why it works: Beef and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 18,971 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Make the butter
Mix butter, parsley, lemon juice, cayenne, and salt together to make maitre d'hotel butter.
Prepare and serve
Broil the sliced beef.
Arrange the beef on a serving dish and place some of the butter on each slice.
Warm the olives and anchovies in a small pan and arrange them around the beef.
Serve with a macedoine of tinned vegetables as a nice accompaniment.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Beef + peppertop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,036 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34,118 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Lemon + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,039 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Parsley + olivetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together8,668 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Melts over the hot beef to add richness and a moist, savoury coating.
- Anchovies
- Add a salty, savoury depth that rounds out the rich beef and butter.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich butter and cuts through the fat.
The step that matters
Broil the sliced beef. Tinned beef is already cooked, so it only needs brief heat to warm and lightly brown. Overcooking dries it out and toughens the meat.
“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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