Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Broiled Steak
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare a griddle broiler with a long handle to avoid burns.
Season the steak with coarse sea salt.
Cook
Place the steak on the griddle and broil over a hot fire, turning two or three times.
Add a moderate amount of butter on the steak to form gravy.
If not serving immediately, cover with another hot plate.
Make the variation
For a variation, after pouring off excess water, add a little milk or hot water and thicken with flour mixed in cold water.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- Steak
- Main protein that browns on the hot griddle and gives the dish its body.
- Butter
- Melts into the meat juices to form a rich fat-based gravy.
- Flour
- Thickens the liquid into a smooth gravy when mixed with cold water.
The step that matters
Turning the steak over a hot fire. Turning only two or three times lets a crust form on each side while the inside stays juicy. Flipping too often slows browning and can dry the surface, so the cook should wait for each side to brown before turning.
“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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