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
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 your oven to 400°F (200°C).
Place the beef roast in a roasting pan and pour 1 cup of boiling water over it.
Roast and make the gravy
Roast for about 10 minutes per pound, basting frequently.
Once cooked, remove the roast and strain the gravy into a bowl.
Set the bowl in ice water to separate the fat from the gravy.
Remove the fat, return the gravy to the heat, and season with salt and pepper.
Thicken the gravy with browned flour, boil once, and serve in a gravy boat.
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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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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 roast
- Forms the main body of the dish and supplies the meat and drippings for the gravy.
- Browned flour
- Thickens the gravy as its starch swells when heated in the liquid.
The step that matters
Separating the fat from the gravy. Fat and liquid separate as the gravy cools, so chilling it in ice water lets the fat rise and be removed. Leaving fat in makes the gravy greasy and can dilute the flavour.
“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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