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Broiled Fillet of Beef

Broiled slices of beef fillet served on toast, seasoned with salt, pepper, and butter, garnished with peas or mushroom sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 Fillet of Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the fillet into slices ¾ inch thick.

  2. Grease the broiler well.

Cook and serve

  1. Broil over clear coals for 6 minutes, turning every 10 seconds at first.

  2. Place the slices on rounds of toast the size of the slices.

  3. Season with coarse sea salt, black pepper, and butter.

  4. Garnish with peas or mushroom sauce.

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

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

  2. Beef + peastop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,044 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + peastop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 recipes

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

  4. Butter + peastop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,887 recipes

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

  5. Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,847 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Fillet of beef
Forms the main meat that cooks quickly over direct heat, staying tender when sliced thin.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the surface of the hot beef.
Toast
Soaks up meat juices and gives the slices a firm base to sit on.

The step that matters

Broil over clear coals for 6 minutes, turning every 10 seconds at first. Frequent early turning builds an even browned surface without overcooking the thin slices. Clear coals give steady, even heat, so the meat cooks through without flare-ups scorching the outside before the inside is done.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, pepper):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Peanutfits about as well
  3. Lima beansfits about as well
  4. Peasthe original

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