Why it works: Pepper and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,430 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Roast Beef
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare and roast
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Dash 1 cup of boiling water over the meat to retain juices.
Baste frequently with salt, water, and drippings.
Roast for 15 minutes per pound for rare, longer for well done.
Make the gravy and serve
Remove the beef to a dish and skim the drippings.
Add 1 cup of boiling water to the drippings.
Stir in 1 teaspoon of flour mixed with cold water.
Season with pepper and salt to taste.
Serve with mustard or scraped horseradish.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + mustardtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,066 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Beef + mustardtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,664 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 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
- Sirloin or rib pieces of beef
- The main meat; its fat and connective tissue flavour the dish and the drippings used for gravy.
- Drippings from the roast
- Fat and browned meat juices that add rich flavour to the basting and the gravy.
- Flour
- Thickens the gravy as its starch swells when heated in the liquid.
The step that matters
Roast for 15 minutes per pound for rare, longer for well done. Meat keeps cooking after it leaves the oven, and the interior temperature rises with time, so overcooking is easy. Checking the internal temperature is more reliable than counting minutes, and the rest time matters too.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, flour, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Okrafits better
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, flour, 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.
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