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Collared Beef

A cured and simmered beef prepared with sugar, salt, saltpetre, herbs, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 331 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Collared Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Choose fine, tender beef, but not too fatty.

  2. Lay the beef in a dish.

Cure

  1. Mix the sugar, salt, saltpetre, parsley, sage, savory herbs, allspice, salt, and pepper.

  2. Rub the mixture all over the beef.

  3. Cover and refrigerate for several days, turning occasionally.

Roll and cook

  1. After curing, roll the beef tightly and tie it with string.

  2. Simmer in water until cooked through, then cool before slicing.

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. Sage + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together331 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,445 recipes

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

  3. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Parsley + allspicetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,289 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 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

Thin end of flank beef
Provides the lean meat that is rolled, cured and sliced into the collar.
Saltpetre
Helps the cured meat keep its pink colour and adds a cured flavour.
Coarse sugar
Balances the salt and softens the flavour of the cure.
Salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the beef during curing.
Minced sage
Adds herbal aroma that complements the beef.

The step that matters

Curing for several days. The cure must penetrate the whole roll evenly. Turning the beef during refrigerated curing spreads the salt and saltpetre, so the centre is seasoned and preserved rather than left raw-tasting or unevenly cured.

Swap the sage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, sugar, parsley, allspice, pepper):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Sagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, sugar, parsley, allspice, pepper. 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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