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Sour Cream Roast

"Yummy sour roast with delicious cream gravy to top on dumplings or mashed potatoes. This has been in my family for over 60 years."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 10,826 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

The recipe

6 servings
Prep20 min
Cook4 hr

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Pat the chuck roast dry and season all over with salt and pepper.

  2. Heat a heavy Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sear the roast on all sides until deep brown, about 10 minutes total. Remove the roast and set it aside.

  3. Lower the heat to medium. Add the chopped onion and cook about 5 minutes until softened, then add the allspice berries and bay leaves.

  4. Pour in the vinegar and water, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom. Bring to a simmer and return the roast to the pot.

  5. Cover and braise in the oven for about 3 hours, until the roast is fork-tender and reaches at least 145°F (63°C) in the thickest part.

  6. Transfer the roast to a cutting board, tent loosely with foil, and rest for 10 minutes. Keep the cooking liquid warm on the stove.

  7. Strain the cooking liquid into a saucepan and bring it to a simmer. Whisk the cornstarch with a splash of cold water until smooth, then stir it in and simmer until thickened, about 3 minutes.

  8. Stir in the whipping cream and heat through gently without boiling. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.

  9. Slice or pull the beef and serve it topped with the cream sauce.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Onion + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together10,826 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Beef + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,091 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Allspice + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Pepper + beeftop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Vinegar + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together27,805 recipes

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

Onion and cream share little aroma chemistry, yet 10,826 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Flavor stand-ins for the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, pepper, beef, onion, cream):

  1. Garlicbetter flavor fit
  2. Celerybetter flavor fit
  3. Tarragonbetter flavor fit
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, pepper, beef, onion, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).