Why it works: Pepper and beef 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 ↓
Fried Steak
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the steak into portions as needed and season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Heat a pan of deep fat until smoking hot.
Cook
Plunge the steak into the hot fat as orders are received.
Cook according to desired doneness: underdone, just done, or well done.
For the frying pan method, add enough fat to cover the bottom and heat until smoking hot.
Place the steak in the pan and fry until browned on one side, then turn to cook the other side.
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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Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Steak
- Is the main component, cooked to the diner's chosen doneness.
- Fat for frying pan
- Conducts heat to the steak surface, producing browning in the shallow pan method.
- Deep fat for frying
- Transfers heat quickly and evenly, searing the outside of the steak.
The step that matters
Heating the fat until smoking hot. Very hot fat sears the steak surface quickly, creating browning and a crust before the interior overcooks. Fat that is not hot enough soaks in and makes the steak greasy and grey.
“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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