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Another Way to Broil a Steak

A method for broiling a steak with butter and catsup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Another Way to Broil a Steak

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a skillet until hot.

  2. Add the steak and press it down, turning it in the butter until nearly done.

  3. Remove the steak and add 2 tablespoons of tomato or walnut catsup to the skillet, letting it stew for 1 minute.

  4. Return the steak to the skillet and press it for a few more minutes.

  5. Transfer the steak to a heated dish and pour the gravy over it.

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. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  2. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

  3. Butter + tomatotop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Steak
Is the main protein; pressing and turning in hot butter browns its surface and sets its texture.
Butter
Conducts heat in the skillet and adds richness and browning to the steak's surface.
Tomato or walnut catsup
Stewed briefly in the pan juices, it adds tangy sweetness and forms the gravy.

The step that matters

Returning the steak to the skillet to finish. Pressing the steak for only a few minutes after the catsup stews is a short window; the steak can overcook and toughen if left too long, since its interior keeps cooking from residual heat.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against 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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