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Skillet Broiled Steak

A thick sirloin steak seasoned with salt and pepper, seared in a hot skillet, finished with butter and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Skillet Broiled Steak

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove any discolored edges or outer skin from the steak.

Sear

  1. Heat a skillet until smoking hot.

  2. Place the steak in the skillet.

  3. Sear the steak for a short time on one side.

  4. Turn the steak.

  5. Sear the steak on the other side.

  6. Cook the steak for about 4 turnings until half cooked.

Finish and serve

  1. Transfer the steak to a hot platter.

  2. Season the steak with salt and pepper.

  3. Top the steak with butter.

  4. Garnish the steak with parsley.

  5. Serve.

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

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

  2. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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 steak
Provides the main protein; its thickness allows a seared exterior while the interior cooks gently.
Butter
Adds richness and a glossy finish that carries flavour over the hot surface of the steak.

The step that matters

Searing in a smoking hot skillet. A very hot, dry pan browns the surface through the Maillard reaction, building flavour and a crust. If the pan is not hot enough, the steak steams, turns grey, and loses that browned taste.

“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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