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Beef or Liver Smothered in Onions

A sirloin steak smothered in onions, flour, and cream, cooked in butter and lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Beef or Liver Smothered in Onions

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the steak

  1. Pound the sirloin steak well and dredge it in flour.

  2. Heat a mixture of butter and lard in an iron skillet.

  3. Season the steak with salt and pepper, then fry the first side quickly.

Smother and finish

  1. Turn the steak over and cover it with finely sliced onions.

  2. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of flour around the edges.

  3. Cover tightly and fry slowly until cooked through.

  4. Pour 1 cup of thin cream or rich milk around the edges.

  5. Shake the skillet until the flour is well cooked; add boiling water if the sauce is too thick.

  6. Transfer to a platter and serve immediately.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Flour + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32,460 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Sirloin steak
Forms the main body of the dish and cooks tender when pounded and fried slowly.
Flour
Coats the steak for browning and thickens the cream sauce as it cooks.
Onions
Soften under cover and sweeten, blending into the pan sauce.
Thin cream or rich milk
Adds richness and body, forming a smooth sauce with the pan juices.
Butter and lard
Fat for frying that browns the steak and adds flavour.

The step that matters

Shake the skillet until the flour is well cooked. Raw flour tastes pasty and thickens unevenly. Cooking it briefly in the fat and juices removes the raw taste and lets the cream sauce thicken smoothly.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, pepper, cream. 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.

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