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Steak for Broiling

A steak broiled over a brisk fire, finished with butter and served with a simple gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Steak for Broiling

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Broil the steak

  1. Broil the steak over a brisk fire on a grill or in a strong toaster, turning frequently.

  2. Do not season until the steak is done.

Finish and serve

  1. Once on the dish, place small bits of butter on top and put in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 1 minute.

  2. For gravy, mix hot water, flour, salt, and pepper in a pie plate and keep warm.

  3. Pour the gravy over the steak before serving.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Sirloin or porterhouse steak
Main protein that browns on the outside while staying juicy inside under high heat.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, melting over the hot steak to carry flavor.
Flour
Thickens the hot water into a smooth gravy.

The step that matters

Season only after the steak is done. Salt on raw meat draws moisture to the surface, which can slow browning and soften the crust before the steak is cooked through.

“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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