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Spanish Steak

A thick steak baked with onions, celery, tomatoes, and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Spanish Steak

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the steak

  1. Select a good sirloin or round steak at least 1½ inches thick.

  2. Score the steak on both sides with a semi-sharp knife.

  3. Spread soft butter on both sides of the steak, working it into the crevices.

  4. Roll the steak in flour and place it in a covered baking dish or casserole.

Bake and top

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 20 to 30 minutes until half tender.

  2. Add a little water if necessary, then layer finely chopped onions and celery over the steak.

  3. Return to the oven and simmer until the onions are tender.

  4. Season with salt and pepper, then spread a mixture of tomatoes, a little flour, and cayenne pepper over the steak.

  5. Return to the oven and bake until the tomatoes are thick and lightly browned.

Serve

  1. Serve hot on a chop plate garnished with parsley.

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. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Sirloin or round steak
Forms the main body of the dish and becomes tender through slow baking in the covered dish.
Butter
Adds fat and moisture that coats the steak and helps keep it from drying out.
Flour
Coats the steak and thickens the juices, helping form a light sauce around it.
Onion
Softens into the sauce, adding sweetness and savory depth to the juices.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and moisture, and thicken and brown on top for color and flavor.

The step that matters

Return to the oven and simmer until the onions are tender. Onions cook slowly in the juices and must soften fully; undercooked onions stay sharp and can taste raw. Keeping the dish covered retains moisture so the steak does not dry out.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, celery, tomato, pepper, parsley):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Okrafits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, celery, tomato, pepper, parsley. 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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