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 the beef
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Wash the beef in cold water and dry it.
Season the beef with salt and pepper, then dredge it in flour.
Roast and baste
Mix the butter, lard, and flour in the roasting pan and let it brown for a minute.
Stir in the hot water and place the beef in the pan, outside up.
Roast for 15 minutes, then begin to baste.
As the water boils down, add a spoonful of hot water and baste often.
Cook for a total of 1.5 hours.
Finish the gravy
After removing the beef, skim off some fat and add boiling water to the pan.
Stir well and let it boil for a few minutes before serving.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,847 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Flour and butter 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
- Beef
- Forms the main body of the roast, becoming tender and juicy as it cooks slowly.
- Flour
- Coats the beef to help it brown and thickens the pan juices into gravy.
- Butter
- Adds fat for browning and a rich, savoury flavour to the pan drippings.
- Lard
- Adds fat that helps the roast and pan mixture brown evenly.
The step that matters
Basting the beef as the water boils down. Water in the pan can evaporate and leave the drippings to scorch. Adding a spoonful of hot water and basting often keeps the surface moist, helps it brown evenly, and builds flavour in the pan juices.
“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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