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To Make Meat Tender

A method for tenderizing beef or mutton using salt, vinegar, spices, and optional sour milk over weeks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,759 recipes. Both carry 1-hexanal, which smells fruit. The science ↓

To Make Meat Tender

Ingredients

Directions

Hang and salt

  1. Hang the meat in a dry, cool place for up to six weeks in winter.

  2. Rub the meat with coarse sea salt and vinegar every few days.

Soak and marinate

  1. Soak the meat in vinegar for 3-4 days in summer or 6-8 days in winter, adding spices as desired.

  2. Pour a few spoonfuls of vinegar on a tough steak and let it sit for 12-24 hours.

  3. Use sour milk, changing it daily and washing the meat well afterward.

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. Beef + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,759 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

  2. Beef + vinegartop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,895 recipes

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

  3. Vinegar + milktop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,949 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef or mutton
Its connective tissue is what softens during aging, soaking and acid treatment, making tough cuts more tender.
Vinegar
Its acidity loosens the meat's protein structure, helping to tenderize it and add a tangy flavor.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the meat's surface and helps break down muscle proteins for a more tender texture.
Sour milk
Its lactic acid gently softens the meat's proteins, offering a milder tenderizing effect than vinegar.

The step that matters

Washing the meat after sour milk. Sour milk leaves residue and acidity on the surface, so the meat must be washed well afterward. Changing the milk daily keeps it fresh and prevents spoilage during the long soak.

“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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