Why it works: Pepper and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
A Pot Roast
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and brown
Wipe the meat with a damp cloth and season with salt and pepper.
Place the meat in an iron pot over moderate heat and brown it slowly for about 20 minutes, turning frequently.
Braise
Add ½ cup of boiling water to the pot.
Cover the pot and reduce the heat to cook slowly.
As the water steams away, add more water, ½ cup at a time.
Finish and serve
Cook for about 15 minutes per pound for tender meat; tough meat may require twice that time.
Remove the meat and add a small amount of water to the juices in the pot.
Thicken the gravy with flour mixed with a little water and serve separately.
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.
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,777 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Meat + flourtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,529 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
- Meat
- Long, slow moist cooking breaks down the tough connective tissue, making the meat tender.
- Boiling water
- Creates steam and moisture in the covered pot, keeping the meat from drying out while it cooks.
- Flour
- Starch thickens the cooking juices into a smooth gravy as it heats in liquid.
The step that matters
Keep the heat low and the pot covered while the meat cooks. Slow, covered cooking with added liquid lets collagen in tough meat convert to gelatin without drying the meat out. Rushing it with high heat or letting the liquid boil away leaves the meat tough and dry.
“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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