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 ↓
To Roast Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Sear and season
Preheat a pan on the stove until hot.
Sear the beef in the hot pan on all sides, using a fork to turn it.
Place the beef on a rack in the pan and sprinkle with flour, salt, and pepper.
Roast and baste
Add 2 tablespoons of drippings to the pan, but do not add water.
Cook in the hot pan for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat.
Baste often with the fat in the pan.
Roast for 10 minutes per pound for rare, or 15 minutes per pound for well done.
Rest and carve
Let the roast rest on a platter with the fat side up, then carve into thin slices across the grain.
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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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Beef + flourtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Beef
- Forms the main body of the dish, and its fat renders and flavors the pan as it cooks.
- Flour
- Sprinkled on the surface, it helps form a browned crust.
- Drippings
- Add fat and flavor, and basting with them keeps the surface moist and browned.
The step that matters
Let the roast rest before carving. Resting lets the juices, pushed toward the center by heat, redistribute through the meat. Cutting too early lets them run out onto the platter, leaving the slices drier.
“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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