Name: Recipes for Corned Beef
Ingredients: 100 pounds of beef; 4 gallons of water; 6 to 8 pounds of sugar; 2 to 4 ounces of saltpetre (or 2 to 4 pounds of salt); 2 to 4 pounds of molasses

Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Recipes for Corned Beef

Ingredients

100 pounds of beef
4 gallons of water
6 to 8 pounds of sugar
2 to 4 ounces of saltpetre (or 2 to 4 pounds of salt)
2 to 4 pounds of molasses

Directions

Dissolve the sugar and saltpetre in the water to create a brine.
Submerge the beef in the brine, ensuring it is fully covered.
Allow the beef to cure for the appropriate time, checking periodically.
Once cured, remove the beef from the brine and rinse before cooking.

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.

Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Beef + molassestop 35% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together606 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Beef + sugartop 37% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,435 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).