Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Roast Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and brown the beef
Wipe the beef with a wet towel after trimming.
Suspend the beef in a Dutch oven before the fire to brown quickly.
Once browned, season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Roast the beef
For a frothed surface, dust with dry flour and moisten with drippings every 15 minutes.
Roast for 15 minutes per pound for medium rare.
When done, place the beef on a hot platter.
Make the gravy and serve
In a pan, heat 2 tablespoons of beef drippings and 1 tablespoon of flour until brown.
Gradually stir in 1 pint of boiling water and season with salt and pepper.
Boil the gravy for 1 minute and serve with the beef.
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.
-
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Beef + flourtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,677 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Beef and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,677 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef
- Forms the main body of the dish and is the protein that is cooked and served.
- Beef drippings
- Add rich fat and flavor, and moisten the surface as the beef roasts.
- All-purpose flour
- Browns in the drippings and thickens the boiling water into a gravy.
The step that matters
Gradually stir in the boiling water. Adding liquid to a hot flour and fat roux slowly, while stirring, keeps the starch dispersed so the gravy becomes smooth instead of lumpy.
“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.
More roast beef recipes
You might also like
Beef Loaf175 recipes
Corned Beef87 recipes
Beef Broth67 recipes
Beef Croquettes58 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.