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To Fry Beef-steaks

Fried beef steaks with optional onions and mushroom ketchup, cooked in butter or beef dripping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

To Fry Beef-steaks

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the steaks

  1. Cut the beef steaks thinner than for broiling and remove the bone.

  2. Beat the steaks to tenderize them and season with salt and pepper.

Fry

  1. Heat fresh butter or beef dripping in a frying pan over medium heat until it boils.

  2. Add the steaks and sliced onions (if using) to the pan.

  3. Fry for about 15 minutes, turning frequently until thoroughly cooked and browned.

  4. Cover the steaks with a plate to keep in the juices.

Serve

  1. Transfer the steaks and onions to a hot dish, covering them to keep warm.

  2. Boil the remaining gravy in the pan and add a spoonful of mushroom ketchup if desired.

  3. Pour the gravy over the steaks and serve immediately.

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 + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

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

  5. Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef steaks
Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender and browned as they cook.
Fresh butter or beef dripping
Conducts heat in the pan and adds fat for browning and rich flavour.
Onions
Add sweetness and savoury flavour as they soften and brown in the pan.
Mushroom ketchup
Adds savoury depth to the gravy.

The step that matters

Heating the fat until it boils before adding the steaks. The fat must be hot enough to sear the meat surface quickly. Adding steaks to cool fat lets them absorb grease and steam rather than brown, which weakens flavour and texture.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, butter, mushroom, ketchup):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Onionthe original
  4. Shallotfits about as well

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