Why it works: Meat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,703 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Roast Meats
Ingredients
Directions
Wash the meat and dry it thoroughly.
Prepare the fire, keeping it at a consistent height.
Gradually move the meat closer to the fire as it cooks.
Baste the meat with a mixture of milk and water or salt and water.
Once the fat begins to fall, switch to basting with the dripping.
Do not sprinkle salt on the meat until it is nearly cooked to avoid excess gravy.
Preserve the dripping by pouring it into boiling water and letting it cool.
If the meat cannot be served immediately, keep it warm over boiling water covered with a cloth.
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.
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Meat + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,703 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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