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Potted Ox Cheek

A preserved ox cheek cooked with spices, then cooled, pressed, and topped with clarified butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Potted Ox Cheek

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the cheek

  1. Remove the gullet, small bones, and cartilages from the ox cheek pieces.

  2. Wash the pieces in salt and water, then dry them with cloths.

Cure the meat

  1. Rub the pieces well with ground allspice, coarse sugar, saltpetre, and coarse sea salt.

  2. Let the meat sit for 3 days, turning and rubbing occasionally.

Bake and press

  1. Place the meat in a wide stone jar or stewing pot with thyme, marjoram, lemon thyme, and water.

  2. Cover with double paper and bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 4 to 5 hours.

  3. Once cooked, remove from the oven and let cool slightly.

  4. Separate the meat from the bones and chop coarsely.

  5. Mix the fat evenly throughout the meat, then press it into a dish.

  6. Use some of the cooking liquid to moisten the meat.

  7. Cover with a plate and weights to press it down.

Finish and serve

  1. The next day, pour clarified butter over the top, about ¼ inch thick.

  2. Serve cold; it will keep well for several weeks in winter.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Allspice + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,077 recipes

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

  3. Marjoram + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together957 recipes

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

  4. Allspice + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together342 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Thyme + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Ox cheek (in the method)
Breaks down into tender, rich meat that becomes sliceable when cooled and pressed.
Saltpetre
Cures the meat, helping it keep its pink colour and resist spoilage during the long rest.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the meat during curing and seasons it throughout.
Coarse sugar
Balances the salt and helps flavour the meat during curing.
Clarified butter
Seals the surface of the potted meat, excluding air to help it keep.

The step that matters

Baking at a low, covered heat. Ox cheek is dense connective tissue. Slow, moist heat under cover converts collagen to gelatin, so the meat becomes tender rather than tough. Too high a heat or an uncovered dish dries it out.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, thyme, marjoram, lemon, butter):

  1. Sagefits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, thyme, marjoram, lemon, butter. 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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