Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Butcher's Meat
Ingredients
Directions
Roast
Regulate the fire strength based on the size of the meat: brisk for small joints, substantial for large ones.
Do not salt the meat before roasting to avoid toughening it.
Cover the fat with paper for even roasting.
When smoke draws to the fire, remove the paper, baste the meat, and dredge with flour to create a frothy appearance.
Roast wild fowl with a clear, brisk fire until frothy and light brown.
Check doneness
For pork and veal, ensure they are well done; for mutton and beef, slight undercooking is acceptable.
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.
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Meat + flourtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,529 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Meat
- Forms the main body of the dish, and its fat renders and browns during roasting.
- Butter
- Adds fat for basting, which carries flavor and promotes browning on the surface.
- Flour
- Dredged over the meat to form a light crust that turns frothy and browns in the heat.
The step that matters
Salting timing. Salt drawn into meat before roasting can toughen its proteins and dry the surface, so salt is held back until the meat is cooked.
“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.
You might also like
Meat Croquettes52 recipes
Meatballs37 recipes
Mince Meat37 recipes
Meat Cakes35 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.