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 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare and roast
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Rub the surloin beef with a little lard and place it in a baking pan with the bone side down.
Roast the beef, basting frequently with the drippings.
When the beef is half done, sprinkle it with pepper, coarse sea salt, and flour.
Make the gravy and serve
To make the gravy, remove the meat from the pan.
If there isn't enough juice, add a little water and thicken with flour.
Season the gravy with pepper and coarse sea salt to taste and serve in a gravy dish.
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
- Surloin beef
- Is the main cut that is roasted and carved, providing the meat for the dish.
- Lard
- Coats the beef and adds fat that helps it brown in the oven.
- Flour
- Sprinkled on the beef and whisked into the juices to thicken the gravy.
The step that matters
Basting the beef with its drippings. Spooning hot drippings over the meat keeps the surface moist and helps it brown evenly. Basting too little can leave the outside dry while the inside cooks.
“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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