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The Rump Roast

A seasoned rump roast braised in water with optional onions.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

The Rump Roast

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Rub the rump roast well with black pepper and flour.

Roast

  1. In a roasting pan, brown the flour over medium heat.

  2. Pour in 2 cups of water and baste the roast often.

  3. Listen for a soft stewing sound; if it sizzles, add more water.

  4. For added flavor, roast 1-2 onions with the beef.

  5. Add coarse sea salt during the last basting.

Carve

  1. If using the whole rump, carve it lengthwise.

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. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Flour + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32,460 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 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

Rump roast
Main cut of beef that becomes tender and juicy during slow, moist cooking.
Flour
Browns in the pan and thickens the cooking liquid into a richer gravy.
Black pepper
Adds sharp aroma and flavor to the meat's surface.

The step that matters

Listen for a soft stewing sound. If the pan sizzles hard, the liquid has evaporated and the flour can scorch. Adding water keeps the roast moist and the browned flour from burning, which protects the flavor of the gravy.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, flour):

  1. Arrowrootfits better
  2. Okrafits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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