Why it works: Butter and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 85,593 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
One Way to Cook a Steak
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wipe the steak dry and season it well with black pepper.
Broil the steak
Place the steak on a grill over a bright fire and broil one side until half cooked.
Flip the steak and broil the other side the same way.
Press the steak on each side.
Return the steak to the fire and broil it for a few more minutes.
Finish and serve
Melt a large piece of butter in a pan over hot water and add black pepper and salt to the melted butter.
Heat a dish, place the steak on it, and pour the melted butter over the steak.
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 + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beefsteak
- Provides the main protein, which firms and browns as it cooks over high heat.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, carrying the seasoning over the finished steak.
The step that matters
Broiling the steak over a bright fire. High direct heat browns the surface quickly while the interior is still cooking. Turning it only once it is half cooked on each side helps it cook evenly without drying out.
“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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