Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Venison Steaks
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and cook
Dip the venison steaks in rolled crackers or wheat flour.
Place the steaks over a bright, clear fire of coals.
Cook one side until done, then transfer to a dish to catch the juices.
Turn the steaks and broil nicely on the other side.
Make the gravy and serve
In a hot dish, combine butter, salt, pepper, currant jelly, and hot water or wine.
Lay the steaks in the gravy, turning them once or twice, and serve hot.
Alternatively, broil the steaks simply and serve with butter, pepper, and salt.
For a variation, lay thin slices of lemon over the steaks after turning.
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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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Venison + curranttop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together443 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Wine + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Wheat + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,002 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Venison steaks
- Provide the lean meat that is seared over coals and served as the main dish.
- Rolled crackers or wheat flour
- Coat the steaks so they brown and form a light crust while cooking.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, and carries the flavour of the pan juices.
- Currant jelly
- Adds sweetness and a fruity tang that balances the gravy.
The step that matters
Cook one side until done, then transfer to a dish to catch the juices. Juices pushed out of meat over a hot fire are lost if the steak is left on the grill too long. Moving it to a dish keeps those juices for the gravy and stops the steak overcooking while the other side is finished.
Swap the lemon
The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, wheat, butter, pepper, currant, wine):
- Red currantfits about as well
- Grapefits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Plumfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against venison, wheat, butter, pepper, currant, wine. 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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