Why it works: Beef and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,677 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. 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.
Roast
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Roast the beef for 2 hours, adding 10 minutes for each pound over or under 10 pounds.
Keep the meat at a distance from the fire initially.
Halfway through cooking, remove the fat from the roaster and baste the meat with its drippings 2–3 times.
Do not salt or flour the meat until it is nearly done.
Finish and serve
Before serving, sprinkle a little salt and flour on the meat, baste it well, and place it close to the fire to froth.
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 + 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
- Beef
- Forms the main body of the dish and provides the meat that is roasted and basted.
- Flour
- Added near the end to help form a light crust and browning on the surface.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the surface of the meat and helps draw out moisture for browning.
The step that matters
Adding salt and flour near the end. Salt and flour applied too early can draw out moisture and form a soggy or dull coating before the meat is ready. Holding them until nearly done lets the surface brown and froth properly when it is placed close to the fire.
“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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