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 ↓
Corned Beef Pickle Formulas
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beef
Trim and bone the beef buttocks.
Rub the beef with fine salt.
Fold the beef and place it in a container (tierce).
Scatter the sugar and saltpeter mixture throughout the packed beef.
Allow to stand overnight.
Cure
In the morning, fill the container with 70-degree pickle.
Cure the beef for two weeks before shipping.
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
- Bottom round beef
- Provides the meat that the cure penetrates and turns tender and pink.
- White sugar
- Balances the salty cure and softens the flavor of the meat.
- Saltpeter
- Gives the cured meat its characteristic pink color and firm texture.
- Pickle (brine)
- Carries salt and cure into the meat, seasoning and preserving it evenly.
The step that matters
Scatter the sugar and saltpeter mixture throughout the packed beef. Saltpeter and sugar must be spread evenly through the packed meat, because uneven distribution leaves some areas under-cured and others overly salty or discolored.
“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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