Skip to main content
Main

To Roast a Sirloin of Beef

A method for roasting a sirloin of beef with clarified beef dripping, salt, pepper, flour, and hot water gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

To Roast a Sirloin of Beef

Oven, in the book's wordsA good oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a good oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the beef

  1. Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Add a little clarified beef dripping to the pan.

  3. Sprinkle salt and black pepper over the sirloin.

  4. Dredge the sirloin with flour and turn it.

Roast and baste

  1. Roast the beef for 15 minutes per pound for medium-rare, or 20 minutes per pound for more well-done.

  2. Baste the beef as soon as it starts to cook.

  3. Baste again every 15 minutes until 20 minutes before it's done.

  4. Once nicely browned, remove from the oven.

Make the gravy

  1. Add hot water to the pan.

  2. Add a little more flour.

  3. Stir until it thickens.

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 + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Beef + flourtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Sirloin of beef
Is the main cut that is roasted, and its fat and juices make the dish.
Clarified beef dripping
Coats the meat and pan, conducting heat and promoting browning on the surface.
Flour
Dredged onto the meat and later added to the pan juices, where it thickens the gravy.

The step that matters

Baste again every 15 minutes until 20 minutes before it's done. Regular basting spreads fat and juices over the surface, keeping it moist and encouraging even browning. Stopping 20 minutes early lets the crust set before removal.

“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.

More roast sirloin recipes

of Beef 3 See all 34 →

You might also like

Roast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesCorned BeefCorned Beef87 recipesBeef BrothBeef Broth67 recipes