Name: To Broil Beef-steaks
Ingredients: beef steaks (cut from the ribs or inside of the sirloin, ¾ inch thick); French mustard (made from mustard powder, vinegar, minced tarragon leaves, and minced garlic); suet (for rubbing the gridiron); coarse sea salt (for seasoning); fresh butter (for serving); raw shallot (optional, for seasoning)

Why it works: Tarragon and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 602 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

To Broil Beef-steaks

Ingredients

beef steaks (cut from the ribs or inside of the sirloin, ¾ inch thick)
French mustard (made from mustard powder, vinegar, minced tarragon leaves, and minced garlic)
suet (for rubbing the gridiron)
coarse sea salt (for seasoning)
fresh butter (for serving)
raw shallot (optional, for seasoning)

Directions

Prepare the fire and grill

Prepare a bed of clear, bright coals free from smoke and ashes.
Heat the gridiron over the coals at a slant to prevent smoking.
Rub the gridiron with suet and sprinkle a little salt over the coals.

Broil the steaks

Place the steaks on the gridiron and turn them frequently with tongs or a knife and fork.
Broil for about 15 minutes, or 10-12 minutes for rare steaks.
If the fat blazes, temporarily remove the gridiron until the flames subside.
Cover the upper side of the steaks with an inverted plate to retain flavor.
Rub a dish with a shallot and place it near the gridiron to heat.
When turning the steaks, pour any collected gravy into the heated dish.

Serve

Once done, sprinkle the steaks with salt and pepper, and place them in a hot dish.
Top each steak with a piece of fresh butter and optionally season with minced shallot moistened with a spoonful of water.

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.

Tarragon + shallottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together602 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Mustard + shallottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together859 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Mustard + tarragontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together901 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Garlic + shallottop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,000 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Mustard + garlictop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,053 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef steaks: Browns on the outside while the inside cooks to the chosen doneness.
Suet: Greases the gridiron so the steaks do not stick and fat drips off.
Fresh butter: Melts over the hot steaks, adding richness and a glossy finish.
French mustard: Adds sharp, acidic flavour; listed in the record but not given a serving step.

The step that matters

Keeping the fire under control while broiling. Dripping fat that blazes creates smoke and soot that can taint the steaks, so the gridiron is lifted until the flames die down. Turning often also spreads heat evenly and prevents surface charring.

Swap the shallot

The recipe marks shallot as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, mustard, vinegar, tarragon, garlic, butter):

Shallotthe original
Chivefits about as well
Horseradishfits less well
Broccolifits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, mustard, vinegar, tarragon, garlic, butter. 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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To Broil Beef-steaks