Why it works: Beef and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 37% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,435 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Beef Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beef
Hang the beef joint for a proper time.
Rub the joint with coarse sugar.
Turn the joint every second day for six days.
Cure in brine
Mix the salts, saltpetre, and ale for the brine, using 1 lb of each salt and 1 oz of saltpetre for every 10 lbs of meat.
Let the meat sit in the brine for three weeks.
Turn the meat every second day.
After three weeks, boil the brine again.
Skim the boiled brine.
Add 20% more of the ingredients to replenish strength.
Dry, smoke and store
Dry the meat.
Coat the meat with a mixture of oatmeal and bran.
Hang the meat in fresh air for a week.
Change the meat's position daily.
Smoke the meat for a month using oak lops, sawdust, and beech and birch chips.
Store the smoked meat in a cool, dry place for four months.
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 + sugartop 37% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,435 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef joint
- Forms the meat that the cure penetrates and firms as it is preserved.
- Saltpetre
- Preserves the meat and gives it its characteristic cured colour.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture and seasons the meat during the long brine cure.
- Common or rock salt
- Draws out moisture and seasons the meat during the long brine cure.
- Coarse sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the saltiness of the cured surface.
The step that matters
Adding 20% more ingredients to the reboiled brine. The brine loses salt and saltpetre strength as the meat cures. Replenishing it keeps the concentration high enough to preserve the meat and prevent spoilage.
“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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