Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
To Broil Beef Steaks
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Select steaks from the middle of a well-kept, finely grained, tender cut of beef.
Trim the steaks.
Divide the steaks if very large.
Preheat the gridiron until hot.
Wipe the gridiron with fresh mutton suet.
Lightly pepper the steaks.
Place the steaks on the gridiron.
Broil and serve
Cook the steaks for 8 to 10 minutes, turning once.
Catch any juices that drain from the steaks in the serving dish.
Serve immediately on hot plates.
If desired, warm a small amount of mushroom catsup in the serving dish.
Optionally, place a thin slice of fresh butter under the steaks before serving.
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 + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,232 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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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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Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef steaks
- Provide the main meat, whose fine grain and tenderness shape the eating texture.
- Fresh mutton suet
- Greases the hot gridiron so the steaks do not stick and gain light surface browning.
- Fresh butter
- Adds richness and fat to the finished steaks as an optional finishing touch.
The step that matters
Preheating the gridiron until hot. A very hot cooking surface sears the outside quickly, browning the steak and sealing in juices. A cool grid lets the meat stick and steam instead of browning.
“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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