Name: Beef, Roast
Ingredients: 1 sirloin of beef (about 15 pounds); butter or fresh dripping; white paper; string

Why it works: Beef and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,847 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓

Beef, Roast

Ingredients

1 sirloin of beef (about 15 pounds)
butter or fresh dripping
white paper
string

Directions

Prepare

Remove the pipe from the bone of the sirloin.
Cover the fat with white paper and secure it with string.

Roast

Prepare a strong fire with plenty of coals at the back.
Initially place the beef near the fire, then move it back to about 18 inches from the grate.
Baste continuously with butter or dripping, then with its own fat.
Roast for 3.5 hours for a 15-pound piece, or 3 hours for a thinner piece.
Remember that freshly killed meat takes longer to roast.

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.

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

Sirloin of beef: Forms the roast itself; its fat layer keeps the meat moist during long cooking.
Butter or fresh dripping: Adds fat for basting, promoting browning and a rich surface flavour.