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Roast Upper Side of Round of Beef

A roast beef served with cabbage, potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,052 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Roast Upper Side of Round of Beef

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Season the beef with salt and pepper.

Roast

  1. Place the beef in a roasting pan and roast for about 1.5 to 2 hours, or until it reaches your desired doneness.

  2. While the beef is roasting, prepare the cabbage and potatoes.

Serve

  1. Serve the beef with the cabbage, potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding.

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 + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Cabbage + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together275 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Beef + cabbagetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together872 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the main meaty texture and rich flavor that the dish is built around.
Potatoes
Starchy body that absorbs roasting juices and browns at the edges.
Cabbage
Adds moisture and a mild, slightly sweet vegetable note that balances the rich beef.
Yorkshire pudding
Light, hollow batter shell that rises in the oven and soaks up meat juices.

The step that matters

Roasting the beef to doneness. Beef keeps cooking after it leaves the oven, and the interior temperature rises as it rests. Pulling it at the right point and checking doneness with a thermometer prevents overcooking, which makes meat dry and grey.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato):

  1. Onionfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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