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Spiced Roast

A roast of beef or mutton seasoned with coarse sea salt, black pepper, cloves, allspice, sugar, vinegar, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Spiced Roast

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Season the meat with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

  3. Add the cloves, allspice, sugar, vinegar, and water.

Roast and brown

  1. Roast slowly until about 30 minutes before serving.

  2. Increase the oven temperature to brown the meat.

  3. Baste often and add water as needed.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  5. Allspice + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef or mutton
Is the main meat that becomes tender and browns during slow roasting.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown and caramelize in the oven.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the sauce a sharp, balanced flavour against the rich meat.
Whole cloves
Contribute warm aromatic spice flavour to the meat and pan liquid.
Whole allspice
Contributes warm, peppery aromatic flavour to the meat and pan liquid.

The step that matters

Increase the oven temperature to brown the meat. Browning depends on surface heat and dryness. Basting and adding water keep the surface from drying, but if the meat is too wet or the heat too low, it will steam rather than brown, and the sugar may burn if left too long.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Cinnamonfits about as well
  2. Clovethe original
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, allspice, sugar, 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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