Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Roast Meat
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Place a meat rack in a baking pan.
Wipe the meat with a wet towel and lay it on the rack.
Roast and brown
Sprinkle the meat on all sides with salt, pepper, and flour, covering the bottom of the pan with the mixture.
Roast in the hot oven until the flour turns dark brown, then add enough hot water to cover the bottom of the pan.
Close the oven door and let the meat brown on one side, basting with pan gravy.
Dredge with flour and brown again.
Turn the meat over, baste with gravy, dredge with salt, pepper, and flour, and brown on this side.
Cook beef for 40 minutes for rare, 60 minutes for well done; adjust times for other meats accordingly.
Make the gravy and serve
Transfer the meat to a hot serving dish.
Remove the rack from the pan and skim the fat from the gravy.
Add ½ cup of boiling water to the pan if needed.
Mix 1 teaspoon of flour with cold water to make a thin paste and stir it into the boiling gravy.
Season with salt and pepper to taste, strain, and serve.
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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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Meat + beeftop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,533 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,777 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Beef + flourtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,677 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Beef and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,677 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 body of the roast, cooking to a tender, sliceable texture.
- Flour
- Dredged over the meat and browned, building a dark crust and thickening the pan gravy.
- Black pepper
- Seasons the crust, adding sharp aroma as it toasts with the meat.
The step that matters
Browning the flour crust on the meat. Flour that browns too little leaves a pale, pasty crust and weak gravy flavour, while over-darkening it turns bitter. Watch the colour closely as it reaches dark brown.
“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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