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
Sprinkle the beef with pepper and coarse sea salt, then dredge it with flour.
Add ½ cup of water to the baking pan and place the meat on a small rack inside the pan.
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and place the pan inside.
Roast and baste
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a cup of boiling water.
Once the flour has browned, baste the meat with the butter-water mixture every 15 to 20 minutes.
Sprinkle the meat again with pepper and coarse sea salt, and dredge it with flour at least twice.
Serve
When the meat is done, serve it on a hot platter.
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
- Is the main cut that the roasting heat cooks through and browns on the outside.
- Flour
- Dredged onto the meat to form a crust that browns in the hot oven.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the basting liquid, helping the surface brown and taste savoury.
The step that matters
Basting after the flour has browned. Basting too early, before the flour has set, can wash the coating off the meat. Waiting until it has browned lets the crust hold, while the butter-water mixture keeps the surface moist and adds 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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