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 ↓
Porterhouse Steak
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Brush both sides of the steak with warm butter or salad oil.
Sprinkle with pepper and let it sit for about 1 hour before cooking.
Grill and serve
Grill the steak over a clear fire for about 4 minutes per side.
Serve with Maitre d’Hôtel butter, fried button onions, small stuffed tomatoes, horseradish sauce, or other suitable accompaniments.
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 + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,847 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 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
- Sirloin beef steak
- Provides the main meat, whose fat and muscle fibres set the steak's juiciness and texture.
- Butter or salad oil
- Adds fat that carries heat across the surface and helps the outside brown.
The step that matters
Grilling over a clear fire. Strong, direct heat browns the outside quickly, while the thick cut needs limited time per side so the centre stays juicy rather than dry.
“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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