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On Dressing Meats

A method for preparing meats by washing, soaking, boiling or roasting, and seasoning with flour and fat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

On Dressing Meats

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Wash the meat thoroughly before dressing.

  2. If boiling, soak the meat in cold water and flour it well.

Cook the meat

  1. Boil the meat slowly, skimming the pot as it boils.

  2. Weigh the joint and allow 15 minutes per pound plus 20 minutes extra.

  3. For roasting, start the meat far from the fire and gradually move it closer.

  4. Baste the meat frequently and flour it when nearly done to enhance appearance.

  5. Cover veal and mutton with paper to preserve fat.

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. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Meat + flourtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,529 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Meat
The main component being cooked; its size and cooking method set the timing.
Flour
Coats the meat to help form a browned, attractive crust when nearly done.
Good dripping or butter
Adds fat for basting, which carries flavour and promotes browning on the surface.

The step that matters

Start roasting far from the fire. Starting the meat far from the heat and moving it closer gradually lets the interior cook through before the outside browns too quickly, which helps avoid a dry or burnt exterior.

“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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