Name: Broiled Beefsteak
Ingredients: 1 inch thick beef steak (porterhouse, sirloin, or cross-cut of rump); butter; coarse sea salt; black pepper

Why it works: Beef and pepper 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 ↓

Broiled Beefsteak

Ingredients

1 inch thick beef steak (porterhouse, sirloin, or cross-cut of rump)
butter
coarse sea salt
black pepper

Directions

Wipe the steak with a cloth to remove moisture and trim off excess fat.
Grease a wire broiler with some fat and place the steak in it, with the edge next to the handle.
Broil over a clear fire, turning every ten seconds for the first minute to sear the surface and retain juices.
After the first minute, turn occasionally until cooked to your liking: about 4 minutes for rare and 6 minutes for well done.
Transfer to a hot platter, spread with butter, and sprinkle 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.

Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,847 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).