Skip to main content
Main

To Roast Meats, &C

Roast a meat joint on a spit over a steady fire, basting and seasoning, then dredging with flour for browning.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

To Roast Meats, &C

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare a strong, steady fire.

  2. Place the meat joint on the spit at a suitable distance from the fire.

Roast

  1. Baste the meat well once it is warm to retain juices.

  2. If desired, sprinkle a little salt on the meat when first placed down.

  3. When smoke begins to rise and clear gravy drops, the meat is nearly done.

  4. Remove any paper. Baste again.

  5. Dredge with flour for browning.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Meat + flourtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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 joint
Is the main substance being cooked; its fat and juices carry the flavour and moisture of the dish.
Flour for dredging
Dusted on the surface, it helps the outside brown and form a slightly crisp crust.

The step that matters

Basting the meat once it is warm. Spooning juices over the surface keeps it from drying out while the heat works inward. Basting too early, before the surface has warmed, can wash off seasoning and cool the meat.

“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.

You might also like

Meat CroquettesMeat Croquettes52 recipesMeatballsMeatballs37 recipesMince MeatMince Meat37 recipesMeat CakesMeat Cakes35 recipes