Name: Beef- Steaks
Ingredients: Beef steaks from the rump; Minced shallot; 1 tablespoon ketchup; Butter

Why it works: Beef and shallot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,103 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Beef- Steaks

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Beef steaks from the rump
Minced shallot
1 tablespoon ketchup
Butter

Directions

Cut beef steaks from a rump that has hung for a few days.
Broil the steaks over a clear or charcoal fire.
Add minced shallot and ketchup to the dish.
Rub a bit of butter on the steak just before serving.
Turn the steaks often to prevent the gravy from being drawn out.

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.

Beef + shallottop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,103 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Shallot + ketchuptop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together476 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,847 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Shallot + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,426 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Beef + ketchuptop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,067 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).