Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
To Boil Beef Steaks
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Select steaks from the middle of a well-kept, finely grained, tender rump of beef.
Trim the steaks neatly and divide if very large.
Preheat the grill until hot but not burning.
Wipe the grill with fresh mutton suet.
Lightly pepper the steaks, but do not add salt before cooking.
Cook and serve
Place the steaks on the grill and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, turning once.
Catch any juices in the serving dish as you move the steaks.
Serve immediately with hot plates and cover.
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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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + muttontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,373 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,442 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
- Beef steaks
- Provide the meat that is seared and cooked over the grill.
- Fresh mutton suet
- Greases the grill so the steaks do not stick.
The step that matters
Preheat the grill until hot but not burning. A very hot grill sears the surface quickly, locking in juices and building browning. If it is too hot and burns, the outside turns bitter before the inside cooks through, while a cool grill steams the steak and leaves it grey and tough.
“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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