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 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).
Season the beef with coarse sea salt.
Roast
Place the beef in a roaster before a clear, bright fire, starting at a distance.
Roast for 1.5 to 2 hours for rare, or longer for more doneness, basting frequently with its own gravy.
When nearly done, lightly dredge flour over the beef to brown it.
Make the gravy and serve
Remove the beef and skim off the fat from the gravy.
Pour the remaining gravy into a pan, add a little flour, salt to taste, and some water.
Bring the gravy to a boil and serve in a small tureen or gravy boat.
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, becoming tender and savoury as it roasts slowly.
- Flour
- Dusted on near the end it browns the surface, and in the gravy it thickens the liquid.
The step that matters
Dredging the flour when nearly done. Flour browns through the Maillard reaction and starch caramelisation at high heat. Added too early it can scorch, and added too late the surface will not brown evenly.
“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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