Why it works: Pepper and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Roast Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Preheat the oven to the highest temperature.
Dust the meat with salt, pepper, and enough flour to dry the surface.
Place the meat on a rack in a roasting pan to prevent it from touching the bottom.
Roast
Sear the surface of the meat in the hot oven.
Lower the oven temperature after searing.
Cook for 12 minutes per pound, plus 10 extra minutes for bones, unless well done is desired.
Baste the meat with extra fat during cooking.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sirloin or rump roast
- Its firm, fatty structure holds shape and gives rich, beefy flavour as it cooks.
- Flour
- Dries the meat's surface so it browns rather than steams in the hot oven.
- Extra fat for basting
- Adds moisture and richness to the surface while the meat roasts.
The step that matters
Sear the surface in the hot oven. A very hot start browns the surface through the Maillard reaction, building flavour and a crust. Lowering the heat afterwards lets the interior cook gently and evenly instead of overcooking at the outside.
“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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