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Roasting

A joint of meat roasted over a bright fire, basted with its own fat and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Meat and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 28% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,529 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Roasting

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the joint of meat with clean water and dry it.

  2. Dredge the joint lightly with flour.

Roast

  1. Hang the joint on a roasting jack before a clear, bright fire with a dripping pan underneath.

  2. Baste the joint frequently with the fat and gravy that collects in the dripping pan.

  3. Start by placing the joint close to the fire for 10 minutes to coagulate the surface, then move it about 1 foot away to cook slowly.

  4. Ensure the fire is maintained throughout the roasting process.

Serve

  1. Serve the joint on a hot dish with warmed plates.

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. Meat + flourtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,529 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Meat
Forms the dish; its outer surface sets and browns while the interior cooks through slowly.
Flour
Light coating that helps the surface brown and crisp in the fire.

The step that matters

Starting the joint close to the fire, then moving it back. The brief high heat at first sets and browns the outer surface, which helps seal in juices. Moving the joint farther away then lets the centre cook gently, so the outside does not burn before the inside is done.

“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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