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Sirloin of Beef

A large sirloin roast cooked over a clear fire, basted with salt, water, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,847 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓

Sirloin of Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare a clear fire for roasting.

  2. Spit the beef firmly and evenly.

  3. Place the meat at least 10 inches from the fire.

  4. Add a little dripping to the dripping pan.

Roast

  1. Cover the dripping pan with a sheet of paper to preserve the fat.

  2. Baste the meat with a mixture of salt and water as soon as it is placed down.

  3. Baste every 15 minutes while roasting.

  4. In the last half hour, remove the paper.

  5. Ten minutes before serving, sprinkle salt over the meat and baste with butter.

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 + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,847 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sirloin of beef
Forms the main body of the dish, providing the meat that is roasted and served.
Dripping
Adds fat that carries flavor and helps keep the surface moist and lightly browned while roasting.

The step that matters

Place the meat at least 10 inches from the fire. A large cut roasted too close to a strong fire will brown and dry on the outside before its center cooks through. Keeping a safe distance lets heat penetrate gradually, so the interior becomes tender and evenly done.

“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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