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A Grilled Steak

A steak grilled and served with a parsley‑butter pat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

A Grilled Steak

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and dry the parsley, then chop it finely.

  2. Mix the chopped parsley with the butter, salt, pepper, and lemon juice to form a small pat.

  3. Dip both sides of the steak in salad oil.

Grill

  1. Warm a gridiron by the fire.

  2. Place the oiled steak on the gridiron, hanging it close to the fire to cook quickly.

  3. Turn the gridiron occasionally; cook for 10 to 12 minutes, depending on the heat of the fire.

Serve

  1. Once cooked, place the steak on a hot dish without piercing it.

  2. Spread the pat of green butter over the steak with a knife 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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Rump steak
Provides the meat that is seared and cooked through over the fire.
Salad oil
Coats the steak so it does not stick and browns evenly on the gridiron.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the herb pat spread over the hot steak.
Parsley
Adds fresh, green flavour and colour to the butter pat.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the herb butter.

The step that matters

Leave the steak unpierced when moving it to the hot dish. Piercing lets the juices escape, which dries the meat. Resting and handling it gently keeps it juicy.

“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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