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Mexican Steak

A steak cooked with onions, peppers, tomatoes, cheese, and egg, baked in the oven.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mexican Steak

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the steak

  1. Cut the steak into two pieces on both sides.

  2. Spread soft butter on both sides of the steak and coat with flour.

  3. Heat the grease in a skillet until very hot.

  4. Brown the steak quickly on one side, then on the other, seasoning with salt and pepper.

Bake and top

  1. Mix the chopped onion, green pepper, tomatoes, salt, white pepper, and cayenne pepper, and spread over the steak.

  2. Pour water into the skillet and bake in the oven at 300°F (150°C) for about 45 minutes.

  3. Combine the grated cheese with the riced hard-cooked egg and spread over the steak after 45 minutes.

  4. Return the steak to the oven to brown.

  5. Serve on a hot plate and garnish 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. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Round steak
Forms the main body of the dish and becomes tender during the long, moist bake.
Flour
Coats the steak so it browns well and helps thicken the pan juices.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity that build the sauce as the steak bakes.
Green pepper
Adds fresh, slightly bitter flavour and body to the sauce.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aroma as it softens in the sauce.
Grated cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding richness and a golden crust.

The step that matters

Brown the steak quickly in very hot grease. A very hot pan sears the floured surface fast, creating browning and flavour before the steak goes into the oven. Cooking it too slowly or too cool leaves it grey and less flavourful.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, onion, pepper, tomato, cheese, egg):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, onion, pepper, tomato, cheese, egg. 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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