Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Fried Steak
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove all skin and gristle from the steak, cutting it into small pieces.
Wash the steak, season with coarse sea salt and black pepper, and roll each piece in flour.
Fry and finish
Fry in hot lard, searing well on each side.
Cook slowly until well done, keeping the pan covered.
Before removing from the stove, add hot water and steam for a while.
Make the gravy
Make gravy by adding 1 tablespoon each of flour and butter to the grease in the pan, cooking until thickened.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Flour and butter 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
- Steak
- Provides the main protein, which firms and browns as it cooks.
- Flour
- Coats the pieces so they brown and form a crust when fried.
- Lard
- Fries the steak at high heat, adding browning and rich flavor.
- Butter
- Adds fat and flavor to the pan drippings used for the gravy.
The step that matters
Searing well on each side. Hot fat and a dry, floured surface create browning through the Maillard reaction. Crowding the pan or moving pieces too early stops the crust forming, so the steak steams instead of browning.
“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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