Name: Second Day of Roast Beef
Ingredients: three pounds of raw oeef chopped fine; two pounds of lean beef; one teaspoonful of butter; three whole cloves; six crackers old reliable soap is strictly pure 30 rolled fine; 30 rolled fine; two eggs; two caps milk; one tablespconful of salt; one teaspoonfdl of pepjjer; three eggs; four soda crackers rolled; cloves; salt; pepper

Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

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.

Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + milktop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,759 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,847 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef: Forms the main body of the dish and supplies the meat that becomes tender during long baking.
Tomatoes (in the method): Add moisture and acidity that help flavour the meat and gravy during the long bake.
Flour (in the method): Thickens the gravy as it cooks, and lightly coats the meat slices.

The step that matters

Adding flour to the gravy during baking. Flour thickens the liquid only as it heats and is stirred in; if the gravy stays thin, the sauce will not coat the meat. Checking consistency during the long bake keeps it from becoming watery.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, egg, milk, pepper):

Nutmegfits better
Parsleyfits better
Cinnamonfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, egg, milk, pepper. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Beef	100g cooked	250
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Second Day of Roast Beef