Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. 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
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Place the rib roast in a dripping pan and pour boiling water over it.
Roast and finish
Roast for 10 minutes per pound for rare.
Baste with its own gravy during roasting.
Just before removing, baste with butter and dredge with flour.
Pour off excess fat from the gravy before thickening and seasoning.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Rib roast
- The main cut, whose fat and connective tissue keep the meat moist and tender as it roasts.
- Butter
- Adds fat that helps the outside brown and gives the roast richer flavor.
- Flour
- Dredged over the roast, it helps the drippings brown and later thickens the gravy.
The step that matters
Pour off excess fat from the gravy before thickening. Fat that is not removed separates from the drippings and makes the thickened gravy greasy and heavy. Removing most of it keeps the flour mixture smooth and the sauce light.
“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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