Why it works: Butter and flour 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 ↓
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 the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Wipe the roast thoroughly with a clean, wet towel.
Place the roast in a dripping pan and baste it well with butter or suet fat.
Roast
Roast in the oven, basting frequently with its own drippings.
When partly done, season with salt and pepper, then dredge with sifted flour.
Roast for about 2 hours for a medium doneness, or 1.5 hours for rare.
Make the gravy and serve
Remove the roast to a heated dish to keep warm.
Skim the fat from the drippings, add 1 tablespoon of sifted flour, a little pepper, and 1 teacup of boiling water.
Boil the mixture once and serve hot in a 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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter and flour 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
- Roast beef
- Provides the main protein, which firms as it cooks and sets the dish's texture.
- Butter or suet fat
- Coats the surface to add richness and help the outside brown while roasting.
- Sifted flour
- Thickens the drippings into gravy and helps the dredged crust brown.
The step that matters
Basting and timing the roast. Basting with drippings keeps the surface moist and browned, while the roasting time sets doneness. Because the time depends on size and oven, checking doneness matters so the meat does not overcook.
“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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