Why it works: Meat and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,594 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Roasting Meat
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare the fire and rake dust from the grate 30 minutes before roasting.
Wipe the joint with a dry cloth and weigh it.
Roast
Roast brown meats for 25 minutes per pound, or white meats for 20 minutes per pound.
Place the joint close to the fire for the first 6-8 minutes.
Baste the joint frequently and move it 16-18 inches from the fire.
Roast small joints
For small joints or birds, use a saucepan with enough butter or dripping to cover the joint.
Cover the saucepan and baste the joint occasionally over a slow fire.
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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Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Meat joint
- Forms the main body of the dish, and its cut and size set the cooking time.
- Butter or dripping
- Adds fat for basting, which carries heat to the surface and promotes browning and moisture.
The step that matters
Place the joint close to the fire for the first 6-8 minutes. A short blast of intense heat at the start sears the surface, helping brown the outside and seal in juices. Moving the joint further away afterward lets the interior cook through without burning the exterior.
“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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