Why it works: Ketchup and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 24% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,207 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Eoast Beef
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Roast
Preheat your oven to 300°F (150°C).
Place the sirloin roast in the oven and bake slowly at first.
Baste the roast frequently to keep it moist.
As the roast cooks, move it closer to the fire to brown it slightly at the end.
Serve
Serve with a piece of the tenderloin for each person.
Prepare gravy by using the drippings, ensuring it is not thick or greasy, and add a little ketchup for flavor.
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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Ketchup + peppertop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,207 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sirloin roast
- Forms the main meat that is slowly cooked to become tender and juicy.
- Ketchup
- Adds sweetness and acidity to the gravy for flavor.
The step that matters
Move the roast closer to the fire at the end. Browning happens at high heat, so a slow low-temperature roast stays pale; a brief finish at higher heat browns the surface. Moving it too early or leaving it too long can overcook or dry the meat.
“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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