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To Broil Beef-Steaks

A method of broiling beef steaks with suet, butter, and optional shallot or onion and mushroom ketchup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,982 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

To Broil Beef-Steaks

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the steaks from a tender part of the beef.

  2. Rub the griddle with suet and heat it.

Cook

  1. Lay the steaks on the hot griddle and broil until browned on one side.

  2. Turn the steaks and let them cook until done, allowing gravy to form on top.

Serve

  1. Carefully lift the steaks onto a hot dish using tongs or a knife and fork.

  2. Place a small amount of butter under the steaks.

  3. Optionally, add chopped shallot or onion and mushroom ketchup to the dish.

  4. Before serving, beat the steaks with a rolling pin and season with salt and pepper.

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. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef steaks
Provide the main meat, which browns on the outside while staying juicy inside.
Suet
Greases the griddle so the steaks do not stick and the surface can brown evenly.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour to the dish beneath the steaks.

The step that matters

Turn the steaks and let them cook until done. Searing the first side builds browning and flavour, but the second side needs enough time on the heat for the interior to reach the desired doneness. Turning too early or too late leaves the steak underdone or dry.

Swap the shallot

The recipe marks shallot as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, butter, mushroom, ketchup):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Onionfits about as well
  4. Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, butter, mushroom, ketchup. 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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