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To Grill a Steak

A grilled rump steak topped with a green butter made of parsley, butter, pepper, salt, and lemon juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

To Grill a Steak

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Dry the parsley in a cloth and chop it finely.

  2. Mix the chopped parsley with the butter, then add pepper, salt, and lemon juice. Form the mixture into a small pat.

  3. Dip both sides of the steak in salad oil.

  4. Warm a gridiron by the fire.

Grill and serve

  1. Place the oiled steak on the gridiron close to the fire to cook quickly.

  2. Turn the gridiron occasionally; cook for 10 to 12 minutes.

  3. When cooked, place the steak on a hot dish without piercing it.

  4. Spread the pat of green butter over the steak with a knife.

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. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

  4. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 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

Rump steak
Forms the main body of the dish, cooking to a tender, browned exterior over high heat.
Butter
Carries the parsley and seasonings and melts over the hot steak, adding richness and moisture.
Salad oil
Coats the steak so it browns evenly and does not stick to the gridiron.
Parsley
Adds fresh, herbal aroma and colour to the seasoned butter.

The step that matters

Do not pierce the steak when moving it to the hot dish. Piercing lets the juices escape, which leaves the meat drier. Turning with tongs or lifting it gently keeps more juice inside the steak.

“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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