Skip to main content
Main

Recipes for Corned Beef

A method for curing and pickling beef with saltpeter, sugar, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Syrup and sugar match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Recipes for Corned Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pickle

  1. Dissolve 2 pounds of sugar in 85°F water to create a pickle.

  2. For a new pickle, combine 4 gallons of water with ½ pound of coarse brown sugar, 2 ounces of saltpeter, and 7 pounds of salt.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil and skim off the scum.

  4. Let it chill before pouring over the meat.

Cure the meat

  1. Rub each piece of meat with a mixture of 3 ounces of pulverized saltpeter and fine salt per 100 pounds of meat.

  2. Pour the pickle over the packed meat in a barrel and roll well.

  3. Fill the barrel with 70°F pickle and roll well.

  4. Cure the meat for 30 to 40 days at 36°F to 38°F.

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. Syrup + sugartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Meat + sugartop 34% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,866 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Meat + syruptop 35% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together139 recipes

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Meat
The main protein that the cure penetrates and firms while curing.
Saltpeter
Gives the cured meat its characteristic pink color and helps preserve it.
Salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat while helping preserve it.
Sugar
Balances the saltiness and adds mild sweetness to the cure.

The step that matters

Let the pickle chill before pouring over the meat. Pouring warm pickle over meat can partly cook its surface and uneven curing follows. Cooling the brine first keeps the meat cold and the cure even during the long cure.

“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 corned beef recipes

Hash 114Boiled 54and Cabbage 30Boiled Dinner 19Salad 10Brine 7 See all 120 →

You might also like

Meat CroquettesMeat Croquettes52 recipesMeatballsMeatballs37 recipesMince MeatMince Meat37 recipesMeat CakesMeat Cakes35 recipes