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Rolled Flank Steak

A rolled flank steak braised in a sauce of flour, stock, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Rolled Flank 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. Score the surface of the flank steak on both sides with a sharp knife.

  2. Rub one side with coarse sea salt and black pepper, then sprinkle with onion juice, chopped parsley, and thyme or savory.

  3. Roll up the steak tightly and tie it with kitchen twine.

Brown and make the gravy

  1. Melt dripping in a frying pan and brown the meat on all sides until seared.

  2. Transfer the browned meat to a deep pan or casserole.

  3. In the frying pan, add 1 tablespoon flour to the fat and stir until well-browned.

  4. Gradually add 1½ cups water or stock, stirring until thick and smooth.

  5. Season the sauce with salt and pepper, then add 1¼ cups vinegar or claret and pour around the meat.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover closely and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 2 hours.

  2. Remove the twine, place the meat on a hot platter, and pour the gravy around it.

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 + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  3. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

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

  4. Onion + thymetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Flank steak
Tough, lean meat that becomes tender during long, moist cooking.
Flour
Browned in the fat, it thickens the gravy and adds a toasted flavor.
Dripping
Fat that sears the surface of the meat and carries flavor into the gravy.
Vinegar or claret
Adds acidity that brightens the gravy and helps tenderize the meat.
Onion juice
Adds savory onion flavor that penetrates the meat during rolling.

The step that matters

Browning the meat on all sides. A deep, even sear builds browned flavor through the Maillard reaction. Pale surfaces produce a flat-tasting gravy and a less appealing crust, so the meat must be dry and the pan hot enough.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, parsley, thyme, flour, vinegar):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, parsley, thyme, flour, vinegar. 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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