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Roast Sirloin of Beef

Roast Sirloin of Beef is a seasoned beef roast cooked in a hot oven, basted with drippings and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 Sirloin of Beef

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Wipe, trim, and tie or skewer the beef into shape.

  2. Dredge the meat all over with salt, pepper, and flour.

  3. Place the meat on a rack in a pan and add the drippings or fat.

Roast

  1. Roast in a very hot oven at 400°F (200°C) with the skin side down.

  2. Baste often and dredge twice with salt and flour.

  3. When seared all over, turn the meat skin side up for final basting.

  4. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes for rare, or 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes for well done.

  5. If the fat in the pan is burning, add a little hot water.

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. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Beef + flourtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Sirloin beef
Provides the main body of the roast, which is cooked to the desired doneness.
Flour
Dries the meat surface and helps form a browned crust during roasting.
Beef drippings or fat
Conducts heat to the surface of the meat, promoting browning and adding rich flavor.

The step that matters

Turning the meat skin side up after searing. Searing first builds a browned crust through rendered fat and surface heat. Turning the meat at the right moment lets the top brown evenly while basting keeps the surface moist, so the roast does not dry out or scorch.

“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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