Why it works: Meat and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 28% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,529 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Roast Meat
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Scrape and trim the meat.
Wipe it carefully with a wet cloth.
Place it on a rack in the pan.
Dredge it with coarse sea salt and then with flour, shaking off excess.
Roast
Put it into a hot oven at 400°F (200°C).
When the flour in the pan is brown, add hot water to cover the pan by half an inch.
Baste the meat with the hot water, then dredge again with flour and salt.
Turn the meat, baste, and dredge again.
Cook slowly for twenty minutes per pound.
Serve
When cooked, place on a hot dish and serve.
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 + flourtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,529 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
- Meat
- The main cut that is roasted, becoming tender and browned on the outside as it cooks.
- Flour
- Forms a coating that browns in the hot oven, adding colour and a crisp, savoury crust.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the surface and, mixed with the flour, helps the coating adhere and brown.
- Hot water
- Mixes with the browned flour in the pan to make a basting liquid that adds moisture and flavour.
The step that matters
Adding the hot water. Add the water only once the flour in the pan has browned. Browned flour gives colour and flavour; adding water too early stops that browning, and waiting too long risks scorching the flour.
“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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