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Pressed Corned Beef

A method of brining and pressing beef to produce a tender, seasoned meat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Pressed Corned Beef

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the brine

  1. Dissolve the salt, saltpeter, and brown sugar in 4 gallons of clean water, preferably boiled and cooled to 38°F (3°C).

Cure the beef

  1. Submerge the beef in the brine and refrigerate for 15 to 21 days, depending on the size of the meat pieces.

Cook and press

  1. When ready to cook, simmer the corned beef gently until fully cooked, avoiding violent boiling.

  2. If the meat is too salty, change the water once during cooking.

  3. For added flavor, place whole allspice, coriander, pepper, and cloves in a cloth bag and add it to the pot during the last 30 to 45 minutes of cooking.

  4. Use gelatin to press the corned beef, either store-bought or homemade.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + coriandertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together393 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Coriander + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,949 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Forms the main meat that the brine cures and cooks into tender, sliceable pieces.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the meat and carries brine into it, seasoning and firming the texture.
Refined saltpeter
Helps keep the meat's characteristic pink color during long curing.
Brown sugar
Balances the salt with sweetness and adds a little moisture and depth to the cure.
Gelatin
Sets the cooking liquid around the meat so the cooked corned beef holds together when pressed.

The step that matters

Simmer gently, do not boil. Violent boiling toughens the muscle fibers and breaks the meat apart, while a gentle simmer lets the connective tissue soften slowly into tender, moist meat.

Swap the allspice

The recipe marks allspice as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, sugar, coriander, pepper, clove, gelatin):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Allspicethe original
  3. Cardamomfits about as well
  4. Gingerfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, sugar, coriander, pepper, clove, gelatin. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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