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 ↓
Roasting Joint
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fire
Prepare a brisk fire for small joints and a substantial fire for large joints.
Do not salt the meat before roasting to retain the gravy.
Roast the meat
Skewer a piece of writing paper over the fat of the beef and baste it while roasting.
When the meat begins to smoke, remove the paper.
Baste the meat well.
Dredge the meat with flour to create a frothy appearance.
For mutton and lamb, roast with a clear, quick fire.
Ensure the veal is a fine light brown color.
Baste the veal with butter and dredge with flour as it cooks.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,847 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Beef + flourtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,677 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Beef
- Forms the main roast; its fat bastes the meat as it cooks.
- Butter
- Adds fat for basting, promoting browning and a rich surface on the veal.
- Flour
- Dredged over the meat to create a frothy, browned crust.
The step that matters
Remove the writing paper when the meat begins to smoke. The paper shields the fat early on, but if it stays on too long it prevents the surface from browning. Removing it at the first sign of smoke lets the surface brown properly while the paper has done its job.
“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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