Why it works: Butter and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Broiled Beefsteak
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut off the flank end of the steak for other uses.
Grease the broiler with a little fat from the meat.
Broil
Broil the steak over red-hot coals, turning every 10 seconds to sear the outside.
Broil for 8 minutes for rare.
Broil for 12 minutes for well done.
Serve
Serve on a hot platter and season with butter and coarse sea salt, or top with sauce.
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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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,847 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Beef + saucetop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,650 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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
- Beef steak
- Forms the main body of the dish and carries the flavor and texture of the meat.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, savory finish when spread over the hot steak.
The step that matters
Turning the steak while searing. Frequent turning over red-hot coals sears the outside quickly, building browned flavor and a crust while the interior stays closer to the intended doneness. Letting one side sit too long can char it unevenly.
“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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