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 Beef
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Place the roast in a baking pan and add enough water to prevent burning.
Sprinkle coarse sea salt and black pepper over the roast.
Roast and baste
Roast for 15 minutes per pound for rare, longer for well done.
Baste frequently to keep the roast moist.
Just before removing, dredge a little flour over the roast and in the gravy.
Make the gravy and serve
Remove the roast and place it on a heated dish.
Skim off excess grease from the gravy, add a little flour, and stir smoothly.
Cook the gravy for a few moments, then pour some over the roast and serve the rest in a gravy bowl.
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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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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 roast
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender and juicy as it slowly roasts.
- Flour
- Thickens the pan juices into gravy and helps it stay smooth.
- Black pepper
- Adds sharp, aromatic seasoning to the outer crust of the roast.
The step that matters
Skim off excess grease from the gravy before adding flour. Leaving too much fat in the pan makes the gravy greasy and can cause flour to clump, so it will not thicken smoothly.
“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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